Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin clashed with Democrats over the agency’s approach to climate change and public health.
Zeldin testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request, which, if passed, would cut the agency’s budget in half. Democrats on the committee pressed the administrator over his agency’s moves to repeal climate-related programs and regulations.
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“This is an administration that is hellbent on ignoring science,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said.
DeLauro cited Zeldin’s attendance earlier this month at an event hosted by the Heartland Institute, a nonprofit organization known for promoting climate change skepticism and opposition to measures meant to curb emissions.
DeLauro cited several EPA moves to reverse climate policies imposed by Democratic presidential administrations, such as February’s reversal of the 2009 endangerment finding, which concluded that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. She added that the agency has weakened regulations on emissions and methane pollution.
Zeldin defended his agency’s actions, stating that it has followed the law.
“Section 202 of the Clean Air Act, where does this say anything about fighting global climate change?” he said.
In addition, subcommittee ranking member Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-MA) questioned Zeldin’s efforts to align with the Make America Healthy Again agenda. MAHA groups and activists have pressed Zeldin to take environmental health issues more seriously.
Pingree cited a letter that MAHA activists sent the administrator last month that called on the agency to initiate an emergency review of pesticides banned in peer nations. They asked for the EPA to tighten regulations on toxic pesticides, shut the revolving door between the EPA and the chemical industry, rebuild the Office of Research and Development, and much more.
“We enjoy our working relationship with MAHA, and that’s why we have partnered on a number of different efforts,” Zeldin said.
The agency recently outlined a plan to list microplastics and certain pharmaceuticals as contaminants in drinking water.
Zeldin said the agency needs to review glyphosate, the main ingredient in Bayer’s RoundUp and a chemical that MAHA advocates have linked to cancer and other health issues.
“I want our dedicated career scientists inside the Office of Chemical Safety to to be able to do that without any political interference,” he said.
The Supreme Court heard a case on Monday to decide whether federal law preempts state-level jury findings that glyphosate causes cancer. MAHA advocates have been unhappy with the Trump administration arguing on behalf of Bayer.
The policy disagreements come as the White House’s 2027 budget request would reduce the EPA’s funding to $4.2 billion, which is a 52% reduction from 2026 levels.
The budget would further cut “environmental justice” programs, which the administration said “promote divisive racial discrimination.” It would also end the Atmospheric Protection Program and Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants, slash state funding for water infrastructure, and end grants for state environmental programs. The budget would also not provide additional funding for Superfund cleanup.
The budget proposal calls for an “end to unrestrained research grants, woke environmental justice work, radical climate research, and skewed, overly-precautionary modeling that influences regulations—none of which are authorized by law.”
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The administration last year proposed a 54.5% reduction in EPA funding. That request was not fulfilled by Congress. Instead, lawmakers passed a spending measure that reduced the agency’s budget by 3.5%.
“The budget proposal reads like a climate change denier’s manifesto,” DeLauro said.
