Democrats, seeking answers on cuts, turned away at EPA

David Jordan, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 6, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Democratic members of Congress on Thursday unsuccessfully tried to meet with EPA officials over frozen funds and proposed cuts, warning that Elon Musk’s promised reductions could undermine the agency’s ability to safeguard the nation’s air and water.

The group, which included Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, and Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., requested a meeting with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin or any officials from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to discuss reports that some grantees are still unable to access funds despite court orders requiring access be reinstated.

Grantees began reporting last week that they were unable to access funds through the EPA system, with some receiving official communication that the shutoff was in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump. While some have since regained access after district court judges issued temporary restraining orders, the Democrats said others, particularly those in 2022 reconciliation law’s community solar program, remain unable to access funds.

The EPA said it could not comment on the matter due to litigation.

Markey said he and others were told neither Zeldin nor any staff of the Musk-led DOGE were present. The Democrats say, however, that it’s only a matter of time before the agency sees deep cuts similar to those at the U.S. Agency for International Development and that outrage would be greater if Americans knew what’s happening.

Markey and others described many actions of the Trump administration, and DOGE in particular, as illegal.

“I don’t think there is anyone in America that wants to wake up tomorrow and find out that they have to boil their water because the EPA workforce has been escorted out of the building,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. “So we’re here to make sure that that doesn’t happen and we provide appropriate oversight.”

Less than three weeks into the second Trump presidency, administration officials have sought to reshape the nation’s energy and environmental watchdogs. That’s created an uncertain future for operations like the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, according to its former head Matthew Tejada, now with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

On her first day, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a memorandum the Justice Department was terminating all environmental justice programs.

Those environmental justice missions stem from the Civil Rights Act. The EPA office is tasked with enforcing Title VI of that law, which prohibits discrimination as it relates to environmental matters.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, senators led by Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., noted that the law organizing the Energy Department requires it maintain an office that ensures “that minorities are afforded an opportunity to participate fully in the energy programs of the Department.”