In a fiery Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin engaged in a heated exchange with far-left senators over the Trump administration’s proposed 55% budget cut to the EPA and the cancellation of nearly 800 Biden-era environmental grants.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, an EPA advisor was exposed in a Project Veritas undercover video admitting that the agency rushed to allocate billions of taxpayer dollars to climate change initiatives just before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Further, the video discussed the EPA’s strategy of using nonprofits as a shield against Republican policies and hints at the potential personal benefits awaiting him post-tenure.
In March, Zeldin announced a fourth round of DOGE cuts, halting over 400 additional grants and saving American taxpayers more than $1.7 billion.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, meant to discuss the EPA’s proposed 2026 budget, devolved into a shouting match that exposed the deep divide between common-sense conservatives and radical Democrat spendthrifts.
Zeldin, a former New York congressman and staunch Trump ally, didn’t hold back when Whitehouse tried to corner him over the cancellation of nearly 800 Biden-era grants, totaling billions in taxpayer dollars.
These grants, pushed by the left as “environmental justice” and “clean energy” initiatives, were riddled with what Zeldin called “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Sen. Whitehouse demanded to know if Zeldin personally reviewed each grant, citing conflicting court documents from EPA officials.
This is an absolute fire. Lee Zeldin just obliterates the far-left senator.
Note: Below is the cleaned-up version of the transcript for clarity and readability.
Lee Zeldin:
I conducted an individual review of everything, and that concept doesn’t work for you.
Sen. Whitehouse:
When did you conduct an individualized review of the 781 grants?
Lee Zeldin:
Because we have a zero-tolerance policy toward wasting federal dollars.
Sen. Whitehouse:
Will you show me your schedule?
Lee Zeldin:
We inherited something. You don’t care about wasting money.
Sen. Whitehouse:
Will you show me your schedule?
Lee Zeldin:
You don’t care about wasting money, but the Trump administration does, Senator.
Sen. Whitehouse:
Will you show me your schedule?
Lee Zeldin:
Our schedule is publicly released. We don’t put every single moment of the day on the schedule.
Sen. Whitehouse:
Will you show me your schedule to prove your assertion that you did an individualized review of the 781 grants?
Lee Zeldin:
I’m here under oath, Senator. I’m here under oath telling you that I was reviewing this stuff and working on it almost every single day. Why? Because when I was before this committee, I was asked by Senator Ricketts, if confirmed, would I immediately make this a top priority—to go through all the grant funding going through the EPA to make sure we are cracking down on every waste, every aspect of abuse?
Because I have to come back here in front of Senator Ricketts today. Even though you don’t care about wasting tax dollars, Senator Ricketts does. I’m going to do my job because the American public cares about us not wasting tax dollars.
Sen. Whitehouse:
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.
Lee Zeldin:
No, Senator. You’re not grasping the fact that we would have multiple employees looking at these grants. That concept just escapes you, like that’s even a possibility.
Sen. Whitehouse:
The only thing about that is—it’s not true.
Lee Zeldin:
You don’t care about 99% of this story.
Sen. Whitehouse:
That’s not true, according to your own employees’ testimony.
Lee Zeldin:
You’re not grasping it, Senator. I don’t know what to say to you. You’re insisting on the fact—
Sen. Whitehouse:
I’m insisting on the fact. That’s exactly what I’m insisting on. I’m insisting on the facts, and I now have three different versions of the facts—including Department of Justice lawyers who admitted in court that what you’re saying now is not true.
Lee Zeldin:
We’re not going to waste dollars just because you insist on the 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% of this story. You don’t want me to go through the list of all the evidence of waste and abuse. No. What I want you to do—in conflicts of interest. What I want you to do—you don’t care about unqualified recipients. You don’t care about what your country is, the oversight. What I want you to…
WATCH:
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