Washington, D.C. – With both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate Budget Committee moving forward with FY2018 budget resolutions today, League of Conservation Voters Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld released the following statement:

“Once again Republican leaders in Congress are catering to big corporations and their polluter allies at the expense of our environment and the health and pocketbooks of hard-working people all across this country. Their massive tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires and corporations would explode the deficit and be used by President Trump and others as an excuse to gut commonsense protections for our air, water, wildlife and lands.

“Instead of putting our communities first, these budget proposals include a huge giveaway to oil and gas companies by paving the way for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to the Gwich’in people and iconic wildlife. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not a budget issue, and it’s not a political bargaining chip to pay for tax cuts. Budgets and tax plans are about priorities, and there is perhaps no better example of whose side the extreme Republican leadership is on than their outrageous attempts to use the budget resolutions to drill in this national treasure.

“LCV strongly opposes the Republican leadership’s budget and tax proposals, and we will fight them tooth and nail at every step.”