Lee Zeldin Zings Adam Schiff: 'I Understand That You Were An Aspiring Fiction Writer—I See Why'

Forbes Breaking News

At a Senate Environment Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sec. Lee Zeldin fired back at Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) during tense questioning.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman from California, Mr. Schiff, is recognized.

00:04Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:05Master Zeldin, you've only been at the EPA for a few months,

00:10but in that time, you've done more to dismantle this agency

00:13than probably all of your predecessors put together.

00:17That may be a source of pride for you, but it is not for the American people.

00:21You've unlawfully terminated grants without justification.

00:24You've fired and pushed out some of the best scientists who inform EPA's decision-making.

00:31You refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated to the EPA by law.

00:36And you've launched a pro-polluter effort to delete dozens of environmental protections.

00:42On top of all this, you've launched an effort to overturn California's Clean Air Act waivers

00:49that improve the quality of air breathed by 40 million Californians

00:53and by millions more in other states who adopted California's high standards.

00:58That effort, for which my colleagues have decided to eliminate the filibuster to achieve,

01:04is not exactly what anyone would call cooperative federalism.

01:09But it's your budget that's the ultimate proof of your priorities.

01:13You propose cutting America's environmental agency by 55%.

01:19Meaning that, in your view, and that of President Trump,

01:26more than half of the environmental efforts of the EPA,

01:30more than half of the efforts to make sure Americans have clean air and clean water,

01:34are just a waste.

01:36They're just a waste.

01:37Meaning that Californians and people all over the country,

01:43when they breathe the air, thanks to your good work,

01:50it'll mean there's more diesel and more other particulate matter in the air.

01:53When they drink a glass of water, they may not be able to see it,

01:58but this water that Americans drink is going to have more chemicals like PFAS,

02:04forever chemicals in their water.

02:07This will be your good work.

02:11I want to be very specific about the legacy you're going to leave if you're successful

02:15in eliminating half of our efforts to clean our water and our air.

02:20Your legacy will be more lung cancer.

02:23It'll be more bladder cancer.

02:26It'll be more head and neck cancer.

02:28It'll be more breast cancer.

02:30It'll be more leukemia and pancreatic cancer,

02:33more liver cancer, more skin cancer,

02:36more kidney cancer, more testicular cancer,

02:39more colorectal cancer,

02:41more rare cancers of innumerable varieties.

02:46That will be your legacy.

02:53I don't know that that's a legacy that anyone should want to have.

02:57My kids are going to be breathing that air just like yours.

03:01My family's going to be drinking the water just like yours.

03:05We may not be able to pinpoint just who gets cancer

03:08because you've done away with half the budget of those looking out

03:12for our clean water and clean air.

03:15But it's going to be somebody's kids.

03:16It's going to be somebody's family.

03:17To put this in more specific terms,

03:22there are 22 grants frozen by the EPA

03:27focused on improving health and reducing pollution,

03:30many of which directly impact children.

03:33For example, one project in Santa Ana, California,

03:35provided funding to help detect and prevent lead poisoning in children.

03:40According to the census,

03:41about 10% of the population in Santa Ana are under the age of 9.

03:45For the population of about 310,000 people,

03:48that means that 31,000 children are at risk of lead poisoning

03:53in Santa Ana without this funding.

03:57What is it about this grant that you and EPA believe

04:01is problematic enough to freeze this funding

04:05and put potentially 31,000 children at risk?

04:10Senator, who is the grant applicant?

04:12This is to the city of Santa Ana.

04:18You have the biggest state,

04:20so I don't have to go through every single list of the grant.

04:23By the way, with that windup, by the way,

04:26I understand that you are an aspiring fiction writer.

04:28I see why.

04:29Oh, yeah.

04:30Well, I understand your view that you can cut half of the agency

04:35and it won't affect people's health or their water or their air.

04:39That, to me, is a big fiction, Mr. Zeldin.

04:43You've forgotten about the fact of cleaning up the LA wildfires.

04:46I have to think, Mr. Zeldin,

04:48I think, Mr. Zeldin,

04:50if your children were drinking water in Santa Ana,

04:57Mr. Zeldin,

04:58maybe you wouldn't be so cavalier

04:59about whether there was lead in their water.

05:02Maybe you would give a damn

05:03instead of coming in here

05:05and suggesting that any grant

05:07that takes lead out of the water

05:10must be waste, fraud, or abuse

05:12because you need the money for a tax cut for rich people

05:18because you're totally beholden to the oil industry.

05:21You could give a rat's ass

05:25about how much cancer your agency causes.

05:29The gentleman's time has expired.

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