Zeldin, Democrats spar over grants and rollbacks
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the testimony of agency officials and statements made in court by government lawyers contradict the administration's comments about the thoroughness of its grant reviews.
Specifically, he pointed to a court document where EPA official Travis Voyles stated, 'On February 25, 2025, I conducted an individualized review of EPA grant programs,' as well as Zeldin's own comments that the administrator himself had conducted a grant review.
Whitehouse also said that 'On May 16, [Justice Department] career lawyers … filed a pleading in federal court that conceded that you had not done individualized, grant-by-grant reviews.'
'The problem with your assertion here today is that it is belied by your own employees' sworn statements in court and by the decision of the Department of Justice to admit that what you say isn't true, ' Whitehouse told Zeldin.
After a back-and-forth, Zeldin said, 'We're not going to waste dollars just because you insist on EPA lighting taxpayer dollars on fire.'
'The American taxpayers, they put President Trump in office because of people like you. They have Republicans in charge of the House and Senate because of people like you, because you don't care about 99 percent of this story,' he continued.
Zeldin also entered into a tense exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over the agency's environmental rollbacks and a particular grant.
Schiff opened his remarks by rattling off rollbacks at the Trump EPA and saying that Zeldin's legacy would be more cancer.
He also asked about a specific grant related to preventing lead poisoning in children in Santa Ana, Calif.
Zeldin retorted, 'With that wind up, by the way, I understand that you are an aspiring fiction writer. I see why.'
'I understand your view that you can cut half of the agency, and it won't affect people's health or their water, their air. That, to me, is a big fiction,' Schiff replied.
'If your children were drinking water in Santa Ana, Mr. Zeldin, maybe you wouldn't be so cavalier about whether there was lead in their water,' he continued. ' You could give a rat's ass about how much cancer your agency causes.'
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