The Environmental Protection Agency got whacked in the Bush administration's proposed 2005 budget, losing seven percent of its current budget. Congress allocated $8.4 billion for EPA in the current budget year; the Bush plan calls for $7.76 billion in 2005.

EPA administrator Mike Leavitt is undaunted. "With the President's budget, we can increase the velocity of environmental protection," he says.

Critics are far less certain. "[The budget] challenges our nation's role as a global environmental leader," says independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont. "Congress will not let this stand."