EPA Proposes Significant Budget Reduction For Fiscal Year 2026

Highlights

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget seeks a 54 percent reduction from FY 2025 levels, cutting total funding from $9.14 billion to $4.16 billion.
• The proposal includes cuts to enforcement functions – 30 percent reduction in civil enforcement, 49 percent cut to criminal enforcement and 35 percent decrease in compliance monitoring – and eliminates environmental justice enforcement funding entirely. Since there exists significant EPA discretion in how to deploy its enforcement resources irrespective of the levels at which Congress ultimately funds these activities, a significant slowdown in EPA enforcement efforts could result in an increase in citizen suits seeking to compel enforcement of alleged violations of environmental statutes.