Senate EPW clears top EPA nominees amid proposed agency rollbacks
Whitehouse speaks earlier this month. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted Thursday to advance two EPA nominees as the panel's top Democrat railed against the agency's proposed purge of climate and air regulations.
Why it matters: The two nominees — who are likely to be confirmed by the full Senate — will be Administrator Lee Zeldin's top lieutenants as he seeks to undo many of President Biden's environmental achievements.
Driving the news: The committee voted 10-9 along party lines to report the nominations of David Fotouhi for deputy administrator and Aaron Szabo for assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation.
- EPW Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse played video of Szabo's testimony that he had no records of his guidance to Project 2025's EPA chapter.
- "It is one of the ways in which I want to express my frustration with where we are going on climate change stuff," Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse then lambasted the EPA administrator.
- "We just had Zeldin — who was tolerably reasonable in what he said in his hearings — say that he's going to undo this whole litany of regulatory things, including everything having to do with the 'climate change religion,''" Whitehouse said.
- "The notion that we're now in a place in which the person in charge of protecting us in this area is saying that it's a climate change religion and not climate science, puts me into a really challenging position," he said.
Yes, but: The Democratic side of the table was mostly empty, and no other lawmaker spoke up during the quick business meeting.
- EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito didn't respond directly to Whitehouse. She later issued a statement praising the nominees.
- "I have confidence they will refocus the agency back to fulfilling its core mission, and away from pushing extreme regulations that threaten the reliability of our electric grid and American competitiveness," Capito said.
- "Too often, we have nominees that have a lot of experience regulating, but no experience advising entities on complying with regulations."
