HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal 1979. The vote is on the Brown amendment to reduce funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by $133 million. The amendment would have held funding at 1978 levels, at a time when the agency had been given new and difficult responsibilities under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Air Act. The amendment would have drastically cut staffing to carry out and enforce these new programs. For example, it would have hampered EPA's ability to respond to the "Love Canal" incident in New York or the "Valley of the Drums" in Kentucky, or thousands of other cases where the general public has unwittingly been exposed to deadly or cancer-causing chemicals. (EPA is given authority to regulate the disposal of hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.) It would also have hampered EPA's ability to assist states and evaluate state plans for meeting clean air standards. The Carter Administration lobbied against the amendment. Rejected 173-211. June 19, 1978. NO is the correct vote.