Democrats Grill EPA Chief Over Plans to Slash Agency’s Budget
Lee Zeldin locked horns with lawmakers over the funding of the environmental regulator
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin defended the Trump administration’s plans to cut the agency’s budget by 52% against Democratic criticism during a combative hearing on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D., N.J.) called the proposed cut to the fiscal 2027 budget “an insult to the American people,” while Rep. Troy Carter (D., La.) called it “a road map for gutting enforcement, slashing environmental protections and leaving communities to fend for themselves.”
In response, Zeldin said funds the EPA was allocated under the Biden administration weren’t being used effectively. “Money was being lit on fire,” he said at a House Energy and Commerce environmental subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
Zeldin said the budget proposal would make the agency “efficient and effective stewards of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars.” He added: “Not only will we be able to fulfill all of our statutory obligations, we will be able to do more with less.”
One proposed cut is to ax the EPA’s Atmospheric Protection Program, which the Trump administration says imposes “unnecessary and extreme climate change regulations on businesses.” The program gives priority to “the cult of ‘climate change’ over job creation and energy independence,” the budget proposal says.
Most Democratic lawmakers quizzed Zeldin on EPA rollbacks of emissions and chemical rules, arguing that the agency is giving broad exemptions to polluters. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D., Mass.) took issue with plans to cut funds that he said were intended to help remove PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” from drinking water.
“How do we get rid of PFAS in municipal water supplies with 90% fewer dollars?” Auchincloss said. “There’s no technology to remediate or mitigate PFAS at 10% the cost at the same efficacy—it doesn’t exist.”
Democratic attorneys general have been fighting the EPA over its policy changes under the Trump administration. They sued the agency last week, alleging that it violated the Clean Air Act by failing to identify areas with excessive soot. The EPA said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
At the hearing, Zeldin was supportive of the coal industry, which he said is vital to national security. The EPA recently rolled back 2024 air-quality standards for mercury and other pollutants, a move that relaxed emissions rules for the coal industry.
“The Biden EPA tried hard to strangulate coal out of existence, and we are urgently reversing that damage,” Zeldin said.
The administrator also was asked about the EPA rescinding what is known as the endangerment finding—a 2009 declaration stating that greenhouse gases pose a public threat by raising global temperatures, which the agency used to regulate emissions.
State attorneys general have sued the EPA over the rollback of the endangerment finding, alleging that ending the finding doesn’t align with the EPA’s requirements under the Clean Air Act.
The agency has said that “Congress never intended to give EPA authority to impose GHG [greenhouse gas] regulations for cars and trucks.”
When asked if he believes that greenhouse gases cause climate change, Zeldin said he is “pretty confident the world isn’t about to end.”
By: Clara Hudson
Source: The Wall Street Journal