EPA fires or reassigns hundreds of staffers

• It's part of the Trump administration's effort to vastly shrink the federal workforce. EPA has around 15,000 employees.

Driving the news: EPA notified roughly 280 employees that they will be fired in a "reduction in force." Another 175 who perform "statutory functions" will be reassigned.

• The employees come from the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, and EPA regional offices.
• "EPA is taking the next step to terminate the Biden-Harris Administration's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Environmental Justice arms of the agency," a spokesperson said.

Between the lines: The firings will likely see challenges from congressional Democrats and the employees themselves.

• EPA had previously put many environmental justice staffers on administrative leave.
• Administrator Lee Zeldin, during a Monday news conference, defended the agency's broader efforts to cut environmental justice grant programs, arguing the money is ill-spent.
• "The problem is that, in the name of environmental justice, a dollar will get secured and not get spent on remediating that environmental issue," he said.