Shutdown threatens further destruction of environment and science agencies, advocates warn

Although Congress has passed bipartisan funding bills that maintain science funding for specific agencies, the president and the director of the budget office have described plans for layoffs that could thwart those efforts.

A government shutdown will likely lead to further dismantling of federal environmental science, enforcement and conservation agencies, advocates warned this week.

Previous government shutdowns have seen federal employees furloughed until funding resumes. But this time, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has told federal agencies to prepare for widespread layoffs.

“That is fundamentally different,” said Jeremy Symons, a climate policy advisor for the Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration, in a press call Monda