On Wednesday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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00:00Administrator. Thank you, Chair Murkowski, Ranking Member
00:03Merkley, and members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear
00:08before you today to discuss the President's fiscal year 2026 budget
00:12request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA has wasted no
00:17time advancing President Trump's directive to help deliver clean air, land,
00:21and water for all Americans while restoring common sense, accountability,
00:26and cooperative federalism to environmental policy. We are fulfilling our
00:31core mission of protecting human health and the environment while powering the
00:36great American comeback and removing unnecessary barriers that have
00:40burdened American families and businesses for far too long. We hit the ground
00:45running immediately upon President Trump's inauguration, completing the largest
00:50wildfire cleanup in agency history in less than 30 days after the catastrophic Los
00:55Angeles wildfires. We are taking bold steps to combat PFAS contamination and
01:00have advanced redevelopment at 21 Superfund sites across 13 states, delisting all or
01:07parts of four sites from the national priorities list. We've also completed 25
01:13state implementation plans, 16 of which were backlogged from the prior
01:17administration. With this renewed focus and commitment, the EPA is proudly working
01:22working for the American people. We are revising the definition of waters of the
01:27United States to align with the Supreme Court decision in Sackett and have issued
01:32immediate actions for Mexico to permanently and urgently end the Tijuana River
01:37sewage crisis that has plagued Southern California for decades. Following my trip to
01:43St. Louis, we cut nearly two years from the cleanup timeline at the Westlake Superfund site, which has
01:49been contaminated by nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project. In fact, to mark the
01:56100th day of the Trump presidency, the EPA released a list of 100 environmental
02:02actions we took during those first 100 days, a pace that motivates us to keep up
02:08each and every day. Together, these actions reflect the administration's
02:12commitment to environmental stewardship, cooperative federalism, and delivering results
02:18that make a real difference in people's lives. In lockstep with the president's
02:22agenda, EPA is also helping to unleash American energy, pursue permitting reform,
02:28make America the AI capital of the world, and bring back American auto jobs. We've
02:34eliminated waste and abuse in areas like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, reversed
02:39unlawful overreach like the so-called Good Neighbor Rule, and begun reconsidering many
02:44overreaching rules, including the power plant and EV-related regulation that
02:50threatens grid reliability, energy affordability, and consumer choice. These
02:55historic actions will reduce regulatory costs, which act as invisible taxes on
03:01Americans, making it more affordable now to own a home, heat homes, operate a
03:07business, and bring manufacturing back to local communities. By reducing the EPA's
03:12budget by billions of dollars, the president's FY 2026 budget demands maximum
03:17efficiency from the EPA, while we continue to fulfill all of our statutory
03:22obligations. Also included in the president's proposal is an additional $9
03:27million above FY 2025 enacted levels to equip EPA with funds to respond to
03:34drinking water disasters. There's also a $27 million increase in funding for
03:39tribes to address drinking water and waste water infrastructure on their lands. As
03:44I've stated in the past at the Trump EPA, we will not view the status quo as a
03:49sacred cow that is untouchable. We will not consider the Biden era regulations we
03:54inherited to be etched in stone, and we absolutely refuse to waste even a penny of
04:00tax dollars. Under the president's leadership and with the support of Congress, we
04:05will continue to deliver real results with greater accountability and a stronger
04:09environmental return on investment per dollar spent. I look forward to
04:13answering your questions. Thank you.