Murkowski talks to reporters on the Senate subway Wednesday. Photo: Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
EPA's top Senate appropriator said Wednesday that the Trump administration's proposed cuts to the agency are "problematic."
Why it matters: Sen. Lisa Murkowski's comments at an Appropriations budget hearing suggest that at least some GOP lawmakers won't go along with the draconian reductions that Trump officials want.
- She also criticized EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for failing to communicate with Congress about frozen funding and personnel reorganizations.
Driving the news: Murkowski told Zeldin that she questions whether the Trump administration's proposals "are serious cuts."
- "I find many of them problematic," she said, citing the Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds that the administration wants to slash.
- She added that although she gives Zeldin "the benefit of the doubt" as a new agency chief, EPA has been "largely unresponsive" to questions from Congress.
- "We need to be more informed rather than getting updates by way of tweets or stories from the media."
Zeldin told Murkowski he has a "bat phone" to his office and that he's happy to talk to her.
Context: The administration is seeking to halve EPA's budget and cut various climate and environmental spending programs.
Zeldin spent a lot of time at the hearing defending his move to freeze money at EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund during several testy exchanges with Democrats.
- Sen. Jeff Merkley said Zeldin is "violating both the law and the Constitution" and at one point suggested he resign.
- Zeldin claimed to have acted legally and said it would be illegal for him to have gone along with "unqualified recipients getting funding" at the end of the Biden administration.
