Administrator Zeldin's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Testimony
Testimony to the US Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
May 14, 2025
Thank you, Chair Murkowski, Ranking Member Merkley, and members of the Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Budget Request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
EPA has wasted no time advancing President Trump’s directive to deliver clean air, land, and water for all Americans – while restoring common sense, accountability, and cooperative federalism to environmental policy. We are fulfilling our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback and removing unnecessary barriers that have burdened American families and businesses for far too long.
We hit the ground running, immediately upon President Trump’s inauguration, completing the largest wildfire cleanup in agency history in less than 30 days after the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires. We are taking bold steps to combat PFAS contamination and have advanced redevelopment at 21 Superfund sites across 13 states — delisting all, or parts of, four sites from the National Priorities List. We’ve also completed 25 State Implementation Plans, 16 of which were backlogged from the prior Administration.
With this renewed focus and commitment, the EPA is proudly working for the American people. We are revising the definition of “Waters of the United States” to align with the Supreme Court decision in Sackett and have issued immediate action items for Mexico to permanently and urgently end the Tijuana River sewage crisis that has plagued Southern California for decades.
Following my trip to St. Louis, we cut nearly two years from the cleanup timeline at the West Lake Superfund site, which has been contaminated by nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project.
In fact, to mark the 100th day of the Trump presidency, the EPA released a list of 100 environmental actions we took during those first one hundred days, a pace that motivates us to keep up each and every day.
Together, these actions reflect the Administration's commitment to environmental stewardship, cooperative federalism, and delivering results that make a real difference in people’s lives.
In lockstep with the President’s agenda, EPA is also helping to unleash American energy, pursue permitting reform, make America the AI capital of the world, and bring back American auto jobs. We’ve eliminated waste and abuse in areas like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, reversed unlawful overreach like the so called “Good Neighbor” rule, and begun reconsidering many overreaching rules including power plant and EV-related regulation that threaten gird reliability, energy affordability, and consumer choice.
These historic actions will reduce regulatory costs — which act as “invisible taxes” on Americans — making it more affordable to own a car, heat homes, operate a business, and bring manufacturing back to local communities.
By reducing the EPA’s budget by billions of dollars, the President’s FY 2026 Budget demands maximum efficiency from the EPA while we continue to fulfill all of our statutory obligations. Also, included in the President’s proposal is an additional $9 million above FY 2025 enacted levels to equip EPA with funds to respond to drinking water disasters. There is also a $27 million increase in funding for Tribes to address drinking water and wastewater infrastructure on their lands.
As I have stated in the past, at the Trump EPA, we will not view the status quo as a sacred cow that is untouchable, we will not consider the Biden era regulations we inherited to be etched in stone, and we absolutely refuse to waste even a penny of tax dollars.
Under the President’s leadership, and with the support of Congress, we will continue to deliver real results with greater accountability and a stronger environmental return on investment per dollar spent. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.