Congress

Our congressional section has the latest on energy, environmental and related legislation in the House and Senate, with must-read stories on upcoming bills, amendments, hearings and floor battles.

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Our congressional section has the latest on energy, environmental and related legislation in the House and Senate, with must-read stories on upcoming bills, amendments, hearings and floor battles.

EPA’s Reorganization Proposal To Senators Raises Legal Questions

EPA has transmitted its proposal for a second-phase reorganization to the Senate environment panel, though it is unlikely that the agency has received congressional approval for the plans as required by a 2024 spending law in light of Senate appropriators’ recent effort to block the agency’s planned elimination of its research office. EPA sent a July 17 letter to Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works...

Senate confirms EPA’s CFO nominee along party lines

The Senate has voted along party lines to confirm Paige Hanson, a former top EPA budget official in the first Trump administration, to serve as EPA’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a key position as the administration works to slash the agency’s budget, rescind billions of dollars in Biden-era grants and incorporate AI into agency operations. On Aug. 2, the Senate voted 50-45 to confirm Hanson as EPA’s CFO. Hanson, a former Capitol Hill aide who also previously served as EPA’s...

Senate votes to confirm Army Corps’ nominee

The Senate has voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination of Adam Telle to lead the Army Corps of Engineers, where he will spearhead the administration’s efforts towards streamlining dredge-and-fill permitting and fast-tracking the Corps’ permitting processes while also overseeing the Corps’ water infrastructure and other projects. The Senate on Aug. 2 voted 72-22 to confirm Telle to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, with 19 Democrats joining with 53 Republicans in support of the nominee...

Most House Democrats Back States’ Suit Challenging Trump Funding Freeze

Nearly two-thirds of House Democrats have signed on to an amicus brief in support of Democratic states’ suit challenging the Trump administration’s sweeping funding freeze at EPA and other agencies, arguing the freeze on appropriated funds to states violates the Constitution, harms constituents and decimates Congress’ ability to function. “The President is attempting to override Congress’s constitutional lawmaking authority,” the lawmakers say. “When a new President is elected, the laws of the United States are not wiped clean and...

Senate Democrats urge reinstatement of EPA ‘dissent’ letter signees

Democratic senators are renewing criticism of EPA's decision to place 139 employees that dissented from Trump-era policies on administrative leave, urging officials to reinstate those employees given their free speech rights under the First Amendment. The 17 senators, in a July 30 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, raise concerns with EPA’s decision to place on administrative leave employees that signed a June “ declaration of dissent ,” voicing opposition to the Trump administration’s environmental policies. “Federal employees are permitted...

Experts Offer Senate Split Views On Legislative Response To Loper Bright

Legal experts are divided on how Congress should respond to the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision ending deference to EPA’s and other agencies’ statutory interpretations, with some telling senators to delegate more authority to agencies while others argued that lawmakers should avoid such delegations and instead make legislation more prescriptive. At a July 30 hearing of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee panel, experts provided advice to senators on how to write legislation in the wake of Loper Bright...

Trump Nominates ACI Executive To Serve As EPA Chemicals Chief

President Donald Trump has nominated Douglas Troutman, the acting CEO and general counsel of the cleaning industry’s trade group, to serve as EPA’s next chemicals chief, picking a nominee with a commitment to consensus at a time when the TSCA program faces significant uncertainty and major clashes between industry and environmentalists. The White House July 30 transmitted Troutman’s nomination to be EPA’s “Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances,” though the office he will lead if confirmed is the Office of Chemical...

Key Democrat Sets Conditions On GOP Call For Bipartisan Permitting Talks

A top Senate Democrat is laying out conditions for any bipartisan agreement on permitting reforms, though it is not clear if Republicans and the Trump administration will agree to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) call to rein in the president’s “lawless” activities or apply any reforms to clean energy projects, not just fossil fuels. “It makes no sense for Democrats to agree to permitting reform until the Trump administration stops its lawless disregard for congressional authority and judicial orders,” Whitehouse, the...

House Democrats urge EPA to retain Biden-era MATS

Dozens of House Democrats, led by Reps. Jennifer McClellen (VA) and Paul Tonko (NY), are urging EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to retract the agency’s proposal to rescind its Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule for power plants and retain the Biden-era regulation. The 75 lawmakers say in a July 23 letter that EPA must “immediately retract” its June 11 proposal, and if it does not, then it should provide 75 days for public comment and hold multiple public hearings...

‘Appalled’ Appropriators Order EPA To Preserve ORD, Improve Transparency

‘Appalled’ Senate appropriators are criticizing EPA’s plans to eliminate its research office in unusually strong terms while ordering officials to maintain and restore the office’s staffing levels and functionality, in addition to expressing frustration with EPA’s reorganizations, staff cuts, grant terminations and lack of transparency. The committee voted 26-2 July 24 to approve EPA’s fiscal year 2026 spending legislation , which says EPA “shall maintain staffing levels within the Office of Research and Development by hiring, retaining, and rehiring after...

House Resources Chair Introduces Bill To Curb NEPA Suits, Speed Reviews

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and a Democratic lawmaker from Maine have introduced legislation to speed the permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with the goal of stemming what critics say are frivolous lawsuits that delay energy and other industrial projects. Introduced July 25 with Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Westerman said in a statement that the bill , known as the ‘‘Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act’’ (SPEED Act), will “modernize NEPA to...

Senate’s FY26 Bill Boosts EPA’s SRF Spending But Earmarks 21 Percent

Senate appropriators are seeking to boost spending on EPA’s state revolving loan funds (SRFs) for water infrastructure to $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2026, a significant increase from what the administration requested, though the bill earmarks almost $600 million of that for local projects, a move that is likely to renew criticism of the practice. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its interior and environment appropriations bill in a 26-2 vote July 24 . Overall, the bill funds EPA at $8.6...

Senate Appropriators Rebuke Multiple EPA Climate Policy Rollbacks

Senate appropriators in their fiscal year 2026 spending bill are rebuking multiple aspects of EPA and other agencies’ climate and clean energy policy rollbacks, voicing support for continued EPA efforts to curb “harmful” greenhouse gases and to take various steps to cut planet-warming emissions. The legislation would give EPA $299 million for “efforts to address harmful air pollutants including greenhouse gases that are contributing to climate change,” the Senate Appropriations Committee says in a report accompanying their FY26 bill for...

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In New Strategy, Whitehouse Files CRA Challenges To Trump EPA Air Rules

A key Democratic senator is introducing a series of Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions that would disapprove recent EPA air rules, including a precedent-setting state haze plan and compliance deadline extensions in two sectors, signaling a possible new strategy to force up-or-down votes on all or most Trump environment rules. “Democrats will not stand by while the Trump administration auctions off our clean air and climate safety to the highest bidder. These are four of many giveaways from the EPA...

Senate Appropriators Double EPA’s Budget Request, Setting Showdown

Senate appropriators have approved EPA’s fiscal year 2026 budget at $8.6 billion, more than double the $4.16 billion the agency requested and more than the $7 billion House Republicans are planning to provide, with the increased spending aimed at boosting funding for water infrastructure, agency personnel and other measures. But the funding increase could spark a showdown as policymakers scramble to approve the spending before the end of the fiscal year at the end of September. The Senate Appropriations Committee...

As Congress Weighs Options, Report Offers Plans To Curb NEPA Lawsuits

As key lawmakers call for Congress to curb litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a new report documents how lawsuits filed under the law’s review requirements impose burdensome roadblocks to building critical infrastructure and offers a number of steps, including fees for losing suits, to help “mitigate these dysfunctions.” The Breakthrough Institute, a research group that promotes technological solutions to environmental problems, issued a July 24 report , that found litigation under the law helped delay scores of...

House Committee Seeks EPA Report On PFAS Enforcement Discretion Policy

House appropriators are pressing EPA to report on its implementation of the Biden-era enforcement discretion policy aimed at quelling liability concerns of “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination triggered by the agency’s 2024 Superfund PFAS rule, a measure that could inform policymakers weighing steps to address the rule or provide additional liability relief. The House Appropriations Committee included the measure, along with other provisions on per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), in its report attached to the fiscal year 2026 spending bill...

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