'Your Job Is To Follow The Law': Patty Murray Grills EPA Head Zeldin On Freezing Appropriated Funds

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) spoke about the Trump administration's freezing of congressionally appropriated funding.

Transcript

00:00To the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Senator Murray.

00:02Thank you very much, Chair Murkowski, Ranking Member Merkley.

00:05I look forward to working with both of you this year.

00:09Administrator Zeldin, you helm an agency that was created by a Republican president

00:13that is responsible for making sure that Americans can drink clean water

00:18and breathe clean air and lead healthy lives.

00:21It seems to me the Trump Administration's entire vision for your agency amounts to burn it down.

00:27Now, burning down the EPA might be a great way to generate smog,

00:32but it is a terrible way to protect families' health.

00:35Look at the $25 billion in federal funding you have been illegally freezing and canceling

00:40in my state and across the country.

00:42We are talking about investments in things like heat pumps to reduce energy costs and pollution,

00:49wildfire preparedness to prevent smoke exposure,

00:53or infrastructure upgrades to protect drinking water from floods and earthquakes.

00:58Blocking this funding is hurting communities everywhere.

01:01It has prompted lawsuits as well as investigations by the Government Accountability Office.

01:09And I have to say to you, it is unacceptable to hear from GOA

01:13that your agency has not been cooperating with those requests from them.

01:17And now, the president's request would slash funding for your agency by over 50%,

01:24taking it back to levels last seen 50 years ago, by the way.

01:29And I should note, protecting the health and well-being of the American public

01:33does not happen on its own.

01:35The EPA is powered by skilled and dedicated public servants,

01:39a group you have worked to demonize for months on end.

01:42Now, while you proudly got your own agency's workforce,

01:46you leave hardworking Americans who are suffering the consequences.

01:50Your job is to make sure kids have clean water when they turn on the tap,

01:55fresh air when they go outside.

01:57Your job is to make sure that our rivers in Washington State are full of salmon, not toxic sledge.

02:03And your job is to follow the law and to get the funds out that Congress passed.

02:09For the past two years, this committee has passed bipartisan spending bills

02:14to invest in the EPA and into our communities.

02:18And despite the draconian budget that you have put forward,

02:21I'm going to be pushing to work with this committee on a bipartisan agreement once again

02:26that safeguards our health and our environment.

02:29Now, Administrator Zeldin, at the same time you proposed cutting the EPA's budget by 54%

02:35and slashing staff by over 20% and gutting many of EPA's core programs.

02:41You insist that despite these cuts, the EPA can carry out the congressional directives

02:46of the bill we passed with bipartisan support through this committee

02:50without compromising the EPA's responsibilities.

02:54There is no way that can be true.

02:56Do you understand, Administrator, that your job is to execute the bipartisan laws negotiated

03:03in this committee and in Congress and carry them out faithfully,

03:07not to gut the programs that Congress passed into law?

03:11Of course.

03:12We will fulfill all statutory obligations.

03:15And I would encourage you to read the announcement that we put out

03:20the morning of the president's 100th day that has 100 environmental wins

03:25from the first 100 days of the Trump presidency.

03:29I don't know if you've had an opportunity to read it yet, but based off of the way...

03:33Well, I have had an opportunity to see your budget.

03:35And when you eliminate offices and slash staffing and propose cutting the budget in half of EPA,

03:41you are making certain that the government will not be able to protect the public from pollution.

03:46That is not what Congress intended.

03:48Now, the federal government has given states significant responsibility

03:53to implement our bedrock environmental laws,

03:56like enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

03:59EPA provides basic funding, categorical grants, to every single state

04:04so they can carry out more than 90 percent of the on-the-ground work

04:08that is necessary to comply with environmental laws.

04:12Your budget cuts 16 of 19 categorical grant programs.

04:18Which the Environmental Council of the States, it's a bipartisan organization of environmental agency

04:23directors from all 50 states, says, will, quote,

04:27incapacitate state environmental programs.

04:30That's from them, not from me.

04:31We are talking about massive cuts, $843 million for Texas, $459 million for Florida, $169 million for Louisiana.

04:41It's hard to see this as anything other than the EPA abandoning its responsibility to states.

04:49And I wanted to ask you, have you consulted with any of the states on this proposal

04:54to eliminate almost all the categorical grant funding?

04:57Every aspect of this skinny budget was done deliberately as a result of a lot of conversation,

05:06a lot of thoughtful conversation.

05:10With the states?

05:11States are absolutely included as it relates to conversations that we take place,

05:18conversations that take place about our priorities.

05:20Well, I will say my state and many of the states said this would be devastating,

05:26and states cannot shoulder this burden.

05:28And I look forward to working with this committee to, as we've done before, in a bipartisan way,

05:34make sure that we fund these programs.

05:37Finally, your agency has been cutting billions of dollars in grants indiscriminately,

05:42irrationally across the country, including in my home state of Washington.

05:46And I want to give you an example, wildfire and extreme heatwaves.

05:50They are major threats to public health for a lot of the country.

05:54A few weeks ago, the EPA terminated a grant that would have made sure community centers in Spokane

06:00had the infrastructure needed to serve as a refuge during extreme weather and wildfire emergencies.

06:07There was no explanation for that cancellation.

06:10That is a community that saw 19 people die and over 300 people hospitalized during a heat wave a few short years ago,

06:18where wildfires are a constant threat.

06:21So let me ask you, is it woke to protect people from wildfires and heat stroke?

06:28I don't know if you're going to get anyone in America to answer yes to the way you put that question out there.

06:34Well, is it inefficient?

06:36Is it wasteful?

06:37Why was this grant eliminated?

06:39Well, there are hundreds of grants.

06:42I would have to have that individual grant in front of me.

06:44One of the, while when Congress sets an appropriated level on a particular type of grant,

06:51we need to make sure that over the course of the fiscal year that that money is being spent,

06:56that we're working with Congress.

06:57Well, apparently after four months, you decided that this community, Spokane,

07:00didn't need to deal with their extreme weather and wildfire emergencies.

07:03I don't know whether the, you won't tell me whether it's inefficient, wasteful, whatever your word is,

07:09but you need to know that you're abandoning communities in my state and across the country.

07:13And that funding was appropriated for work exactly like this.

07:17Thank you, Madam Chair.

07:19Thank you, Madam Chair.

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