Republican senator defends cuts to EPA, which he says is 'brainwashing our kids'

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Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, claimed that the Environmental Protection Agency is releasing "propaganda" that is "brainwashing our kids," during a CNN interview on Thursday.

"We want to deliver the services. We ought to make things clean," Inhofe said. "But we ought to take all this stuff that comes out of the EPA that's brainwashing our kids, that is propaganda, things that aren't true, allegations."

Inhofe also defended President Donald Trump's proposed 31 percent funding cut to the EPA, which includes a $100 million reduction in funding for the agency's climate change programs.

In February 2015, Inhofe threw a snowball on the floor of the Senate to illustrate his skepticism for climate change science.

The EPA is facing, arguably, the deepest cuts of any federal agency under Trump's proposed budget, an outline of which was unveiled on Thursday. The budget allocates $5.7 billion for the EPA, down from $8.3 billion.

The agency has already sustained a 20 percent cut in funding since 2010, and some Republicans, including those who oppose the agency's climate change work, have voiced concern with the size of Trump's proposed cut.

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