Senate Appropriations Committee:
VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Subcommittee

The Veterans Affairs (VA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Independent Agencies Subcommittee's environmental responsibilities include determining the level of funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is responsible for protecting America's land, air, and water from pollution.

Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies. Sen. Bond served as Missouri's Governor from 1972-76, and again from 1980-84. In the 106th Congress he worked to prevent the EPA from withholding highway funding from urban areas that don't meet basic, healthy, clean air standards, thereby eliminating an incentive to cities to promote mass transit and protect their citizen's health. Sen. Bond earned a 2003 LCV score of 0%. 

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies. Before being elected to the Senate in 1986, she served as a Baltimore City Council Member, and represented Maryland's 3rd District in the U.S. Congress. In 2001 she voted to block the Bush Administration's plan to lease ecologically sensitive land off of Florida's Atlantic Coast to oil drillers. This was just one of the votes that earned her a 100% on LCV's 2001 National Environmental Scorecard. Sen. Mikulski has a 2003 LCV score of 79%.