Residents of the Puget Sound can breathe a momentary sigh of relief, it appears. Despite historic draconian cuts on discretionary programs proposed by the Trump administration, Congress appears poised to approve a federal budget that invests in all Americans–whether red, blue, purple, big city, small town, or rural dweller. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, is only expected to take a 1% cut under the deal, leaving intact core programs like water quality and Superfund–and the entire staffing of the agency. Locally, that means continued funding to clean up waterbodies and ecosystems like Puget Sound. The budget will fund government operations and programs through the end of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30th.
Yesterday, transit policy guru Yonah Freemark broke the good news on the transit funding side of things:
In the federal budget agreement: New Start funds approved for DC Purple Line; Minneapolis Southwest light rail; Seattle Lynnwood Link. pic.twitter.com/lLc2QoAXH2
— Yonah Freemark (@yfreemark) May 2, 2017
