Letter to the Hon. Thad Cochran, and the Hon. Patrick Leahy - Strip Environmental Riders from End-of-Year Spending Package

Letter

Dear Chairman Cochran and Vice Chairman Leahy:

We understand that you are working to formulate multiple pieces of short-term or long-term legislation to fund the federal government. As you consider Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bills or a continuing resolution, we urge you to oppose any riders that would eviscerate the United States' foundational environmental laws.

Unfortunately, many of the appropriations bills approved this year have included deeply divisive environmental policy riders that have no place in must-pass legislation and that complicate the bipartisan cooperation necessary to pass such legislation. To avoid these harmful outcomes, we write to you to express our strong opposition to any riders that would gut bedrock U.S. environmental laws and threaten our air, water, lands, and wildlife. We urge you to bring forward legislation that is free of these harmful ideological riders.

Instead of undermining this legislation with harmful environmental policy riders that have nothing to do with the nation's spending certainty, we strongly urge you to bring forward legislation free of controversial provisions to fund the federal government through a short-term or long-term spending package.

Please oppose any riders that would gut America's foundational environmental laws.

Sincerely,