Los Angeles, CA – One week after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill that slashes funding for several environmental priorities, the League of Conservation Voters launched a $50,000 digital ad campaign holding Reps. Ken Calvert (R, CA-42), Darrell Issa (R, CA-49), Mimi Walters (R, CA-45), and five other members of Congress accountable for their votes.

All three California members supported the appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, which makes unacceptable funding cuts to the National Park Service, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Environmental Protection Agency while containing a slew of harmful anti-environmental policy riders. The ads are running on Facebook in the members’ districts starting today.

“Californians overwhelming support safeguards for our land, water, and air, and deserve representatives in Congress who will champion the health of our communities, not work to undermine our environmental protections,” said Sarah Rose, Chief Executive Officer, California League of Conservation Voters.

“With President Trump leading the most anti-environment administration in our history, we need Congress to protect our public lands and boost funding for the EPA – but instead, the House passed a bill that threatens our outdoor recreation economy, clean air, and clean water,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “Members of Congress who refuse to stand up to this radical agenda should know that their constituents are listening and will hold them accountable for putting corporate polluter profits ahead of our families.”

The bill generated bipartisan opposition. Its attacks on environmental priorities include:

• Drastic cuts to parks and programs that protect public lands, including a 32 percent cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and a $64 million cut to the National Park Service.
• A more than $500 million cut to the EPA, while hurricanes Harvey and Irma have highlighted the need for a robustly-funded EPA to protect communities from pollution in our waterways and from industrial facilities. Walters also supported a failed amendment to cut EPA funding by an additional $1.9 billion.
• Provisions to prevent federal agencies from recognizing the costs of climate change by accounting for the economic impact of carbon pollution and taking commonsense steps to reduce methane emissions.
• Cuts to the EPA’s Environmental Justice Program, which helps low income and minority communities overcome the disproportionate impacts of exposure to hazardous pollution and environmental contamination that have historically plagued these communities.
• Several other anti-environmental policy riders, including measures that would allow the Trump administration to bypass the law and hide from the public the EPA’s repeal of drinking water protections for 117 million people; to delay and weaken smog standards that protect clean air; and to eliminate protections for endangered species such as the Gray Wolf.

LCV’s “Our Lands, Our Vote” campaign has been engaging people across the country to stand up for our public lands and waters since launching in June. Just this week, the Trump administration continued its assault on our public lands when reports surfaced that Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended the biggest rollback of protected public lands in our history.