Budget cuts at Trump EPA become flashpoint at a heated hearing -- and, Democrats say, may kill people
Source: AP
Updated 6:49 PM EDT, May 21, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.’' Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more Americans contracting lung cancer and other illnesses.
The heated exchanges, at a Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan differences over Zeldin’s deregulatory approach. Zeldin, a former Republican congressman, has said his tenure will turbocharge the American economy while ensuring clean air and water.
Democrats say he is endangering the lives of millions of Americans and abandoning the agency’s dual mission to protect the environment and human health.
Zeldin, who took office in January, has proposed a flood of changes that would sharply reduce the agency’s workforce, terminate billions of dollars in grants approved by the Biden administration and roll back dozens of environmental rules including landmark regulations on climate change and pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/zeldin-schiff-epa-pollution-cancer-environment-3d61818ecc3ca951dc7df3420cbe1e71
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