Democrats escalate attacks as Trump EPA holds back climate spending

Yahoo

07-02-2025

Democrats ramped up their pressure against the EPA spending freeze for several Inflation Reduction Act climate programs on Thursday, blasting the move as an illegal impoundment of congressionally mandated spending that violated a court ruling issued earlier this week.
Lawmakers staged a rally at EPA's downtown headquarters that drew about 100 people to protest actions by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led 'Department of Government Efficiency' for efforts they said were designed to intimidate agency staff and flout the legal orders to resume spending on climate and environment programs enacted under the Biden administration.
'Nobody elected Elon Musk or his teenage hackers who are inside of these buildings stealing our data, trying to fire federal employees, taking down federally funded science,' Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said at the event. 'They have infiltrated our government as unelected, unvetted and unqualified billionaires and their club defying our democracy, breaking the law and trying to scare the hell out of the American people — and we won't stand for it.'
DOGE representatives have fanned out to multiple federal agencies in recent days, including at least one at EPA. On Thursday, EPA put on leave 168 employees who worked on addressing pollution facing communities of color and low-income and rural areas.
Democrats said the agencies have provided little clarity about the status of several programs totaling tens of billions of dollars. Grant recipients, lawmakers and state officials say all IRA money from the EPA remained frozen as of Thursday afternoon, including the $7 billion Solar for All program and the $5 billion climate pollution reduction grants programs.
Other programs funded through the bipartisan infrastructure law also remain frozen, such as the $5 billion Clean School Bus program, even as some awards from other programs from that law are flowing again.
'It's contrary to court orders, it's contrary to existing law, it's contrary to the Impoundment Act of 1974, and it's contrary to Supreme Court precedent,' Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said on the hill.
'They are hurting lots of people, and that is why we are seeing a turn in sentiment,' he added.
Still, Democrats were struggling with how to force EPA to abide by a federal judge's Monday ruling that barred agencies from enforcing any remaining elements of the Trump administration's spending freeze.
'We're here so that you will report that we are here, saying that the EPA is in violation of the law if they are freezing programs,' Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), flanked by Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), told reporters outside EPA. 'And then if you report that, then we believe that, by the millions, people are going to be outraged because they will not want the EPA to be crushed.'
An EPA spokesperson said the agency was working to restart the flow of money.
'Given the funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Democrats' wasteful Green New Deal more than doubled the annual operating budget of the EPA, these things take time. The agency is working to comply,' EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in statement.
The Democratic lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to enter the building to request a meeting with DOGE officials there and newly installed Administrator Lee Zeldin. Zeldin was in Los Angeles on Thursday as part of EPA's response to the devastating wildfires there.
EPA did not respond to requests for comment about whether DOGE officials were present at agency headquarters, though Stansbury told reporters they were inside the building on Thursday.
Stansbury said White House officials had told New Mexico universities in recent days they would face funding cuts to research faculty.
'They're getting random memos from random people that they're not even sure who they work for,' she said.
Four senior Democratic appropriators also wrote to EPA on Thursday calling the continued withholding of funds 'flagrantly illegal,' even as some money started to trickle out again.
'Let us be clear — all of EPA's funding must be made available and disbursed pursuant to the law with no exceptions,' wrote Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, told POLITICO on Thursday she planned to follow up with the Trump administration about funding for the Clean School Bus program.
'I will find out about the school buses,' Capito said. GreenPower, a bus manufacturer in her state that has received orders funded by the program, told her it is 'concerned' about losing funding.
Other Republicans said they supported the Trump administration continuing to withhold funds, which they characterized as a temporary maneuver in order for agencies to ensure the spending is being spent in accordance with the law.
'I'm from a state where people really support what Trump is doing, and even if it affected them personally, I don't think they are gonna complain,' Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) told POLITICO.
A Democratic spokesperson for the Energy Committee said more than $12 billion in funding for Western drought projects that Congress provided through the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law remains frozen. Spokespersons for the Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Contracts have been signed for much of that money, including water conservation projects aimed at keeping the drought-addled Colorado River basin out of a near-term crisis. Construction on some of those projects is currently underway.
'These are agreements the federal government made with Arizona cities, tribal communities, and farmers, and they are essential to keeping the Colorado River flowing,' Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in a statement. 'In the middle of a historic drought, this needs to be reversed immediately.'
The freeze also covers an $81 million IRA-funded plan intended to blunt California's water wars, the committee spokesperson said, as well as upgrades to aging infrastructure across the West. That includes projects in California's main water hub that would benefit Central Valley farmers whose cause President Donald Trump trumpets frequently.
Democrats expressed optimism that federal courts would act to ensure the Trump administration upholds the law — and that judges would continue to rule against them — but worried about the damage being done to their clean energy and climate legacy in the meantime.
'We were in the middle of a legit manufacturing and clean energy boom and Donald Trump is pulling the plug, so it's going to take awhile for it to backfire. But it's going to backfire spectacularly at the economic and political level,' Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii.) said.
James Bikales contributed to this report.