The E.P.A. carries out and enforces regulations under existing laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.  The upcoming elections will have a dramatic result on the agency largely responsible for environmental regulation.  Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have both threatened to dismantle the agency over concerns of overreach on state rights.   The Republican platform no matter the nominee will likely try to decrease the power of the E.P.A. Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are not out spoken in support for the agency either after the Flint water crisis.  Other Democrats have argued that the E.P.A completely failed in regulation of Flint’s water supply.

President Obama has used and stretched the Clean Air Act to help fight global warming. Although a Republican president could not repeal the act, they could cut back on the way President Obama has used it to combat global warming.  The EPA while acting on the President Obama’s wishes has faced a substantially decreased budget going from 10.6 billion under Bill Clinton to 8.8 billion dollars now form a Republican congress.  This also causes the EPA to have the smallest staff since 1989. Making the EPA less effective.

The upcoming elections will influence the EPA at two levels, the executive branch will determine whether global warming policies stay in place with the election of Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.  Congressional elections will determine how much of a budget the EPA will receive, democrats will most likely supporting a higher budget.  A larger budget will hopefully avoid major issues like Flint, Michigan.