Illustration: Shoshana Gordon / Axios
Senate EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito pressed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday to ensure that states continue to receive water funding that's targeted in the Trump budget.
Why it matters: The first question from a top GOP senator highlighted discomfort among Republicans with some of the more aggressive cuts — even at the much-maligned EPA — that the White House seeks.
Zoom in: The EPA budget blueprint released this month proposed to eliminate nearly $2.5 billion from the EPA's Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds — roughly 90% of its budget.
- West Virginia would see a "dramatic cut" from $36 million to $4 million, Capito pointed out.
- Zeldin explained that congressional earmarks have pulled money out of the loan funds, and the cuts are intended to return the program to its intended design of providing seed money for states to set up their own programs.
- But Capito said the cuts would mean that "not only would there be no money for this congressionally directed spending, there's not going to be enough money to sustain these projects into the future. I am concerned about it."
Questioning from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the panel's top Democrat, devolved into a shouting match over whether Zeldin personally approved individual EPA grant cuts.
- Whitehouse interrogated Zeldin on court testimony from an EPA employee that Zeldin wasn't involved in individual grant reviews.
- The employee testified that he, not Zeldin, had made the cuts in one day, "so you can't now come and say that that's false," Whitehouse said.
- Zeldin yelled that Whitehouse "doesn't care about the facts" and added: "You don't care about wasting money — but the Trump administration does, senator."
Our thought bubble: Zeldin's combativeness showed the very reasons President Trump picked him.
