Coal Tattoo

Budget deal doesn’t include EPA riders

President Barack Obama visits the Lincoln Memorial at the National Mall in Washington, Saturday, April 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

It sounds like the budget deal late Friday night averting a government shutdown went through without policy riders concerning climate change and mountaintop removal regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

President Obama mentioned this specifically in his statement Friday night:

At the same time, we also made sure that at the end of the day, this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues like women’s health and the protection of our air and water. These are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during a debate about our budget.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer elaborated on Saturday:

We also made sure this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues or pursuing an ideological agenda that has nothing to do with our budget. We all understand that these are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during a debate about our budget and at a time when the American people expect more out of their government.

We were able to stop Republican efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act as well as Planned Parenthood and international family planning programs. They also wanted to limit funding for the establishment of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing clean air and water rules. While we made significant cuts, we just couldn’t afford to cut these important programs that are critical to our nation.

It also appears that the deal does not include language that was discussed concerning an inter-agency study reviewing the potential economic impacts of some of EPA’s efforts.