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.

Capito Doubts Zeldin’s Defense For Planned FY26 Cuts To SRF Programs

Senate environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is doubting EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s claims that the Trump administration is seeking to slash funding for the agency’s clean and drinking water state revolving fund (SRF) programs in fiscal year 2026 due to lawmakers’ earmarking of such funds for local projects. During a May 21 hearing on EPA’s FY26 budget request before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), Capito, who also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, charged that...

Padilla Puts Holds On EPA Nominees Over Attack On California Waivers

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) is placing procedural holds on Senate consideration of four top EPA nominees, arguing the move stems from Republicans’ “reckless” attempt to revoke a trio of preemption waivers for California’s vehicle emissions programs via the Congressional Review Act (CRA). “This objection is a direct result of the agency’s cynical attempt to weaponize the [CRA] by attempting to submit as ‘rules’ three waivers issued to the State of California under the Clean Air Act (CAA),” Padilla said in...

Alumni Warn Budget, Staff Cuts Threaten EPA’s Ability To Protect Public

A group representing almost 3000 former EPA staff is warning Congress and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin that efforts to slash the agency’s staff, budget and regulations will make it impossible for the federal government to adequately protect public health, as Congress gears up to consider fiscal year 2026 funding for the agency. The warnings, in a May 19 open letter from the EPA Alumni Association, also underscore ongoing concerns about a brain drain from EPA and other agencies, amid months...

Lawmakers May Struggle With Scope Of PFAS ‘Passive Receivers’ Relief

Lawmakers could face difficulties in determining which sectors and activities should be categorized as “passive receivers” and be given a waiver for those actions from Superfund liability for PFAS contamination, even as momentum within the Trump administration and Congress to provide such relief has built. While environmental groups continue to oppose such carveouts, action to try to provide such relief appears more likely than in the last Congress, with Republicans now controlling the Senate and as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin...

States Preview Air Pollution Impact Of Undoing California Vehicle Rules

Analysis recently provided to state and local air regulators is previewing the conventional air pollution increases that could result if Senate Republicans rescind preemption waivers for several major California vehicle emissions rules, even as political debate over the move has mostly focused on the rules’ effect on electric vehicle deployment. The analysis is included in an April 8 memo from the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) to its members, and recently obtained by Inside EPA ’s Climate Extra...

House Democrats Warn EPA Budget Plan Will Devastate State Agencies

House Democratic appropriators are warning that the Trump EPA’s proposal to slash categorical grants to state environmental agencies would devastate environmental protections nationwide and might even force states to give up their primary implementation of federal environmental laws and force EPA to resume those tasks. EPA’s categorical grants fund state agencies that are responsible for implementing approximately 90 percent of federal environmental programs. But the Trump administration’s May 2 “skinny” budget proposal asks Congress to cut $1 billion from that...

Senate Democrat Seeks Law Firm Disclosure Of Trump Pressure To Aid EPA

Senate environment panel ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is pressing law firms that have agreed to do pro bono work supporting Trump administration goals to detail if they have been approached to assist EPA or other federal agencies in ways that could undercut climate-friendly policies. “The climate crisis is real and dangerous, and I urge that you not raise the danger,” Whitehouse writes in separate May 13 letters to nine firms that have struck pro bono deals with...

Senate Confirms Controversial EPA General Counsel Amid Legal Fights

The Senate on a party-line vote has confirmed Sean Donahue to lead EPA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC), where he will serve as the agency’s top lawyer despite controversy over his qualifications given limited experience supervising other lawyers, a previous termination, and other concerns. During a May 15 vote, the Senate voted 51-46 on party lines to confirm Donahue for the role, with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) not voting. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin...

Zeldin Faces Bipartisan Skepticism From Appropriators On FY26 Budget

Senate appropriators from both parties are expressing concern about the Trump administration’s proposed steep cuts to EPA’s budget in fiscal year 2026, particularly funding for state water infrastructure and environment programs, with one top Republican suggesting the proposal is “unserious.” In his first appearance before Congress since his confirmation, Administrator Lee Zeldin testified at a May 14 hearing of a Senate Appropriations panel, defending the Trump administration’s May 2 “ skinny” budget proposal . That plan cuts the Clean Water...

Zeldin Aggressively Rejects Democrats’ Legal Attacks On Funding Freezes

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is aggressively denying that the agency has engaged in wrongdoing regarding its efforts to pause and terminate various grant funds, even as Senate Democrats are slamming the Trump EPA for “illegally and unconstitutionally” impounding $24 billion in awards. During a May 14 meeting of the Senate Appropriations environment panel to discuss EPA’s fiscal year 2026 budget request, ranking member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) argued EPA’s actions amount to illegally impounding congressionally obligated funds, including for the Inflation...

Democrats Commit To Bipartisan EPW Bills, Despite Trump Concerns

Democrats on the Senate environment committee are pledging to develop bipartisan legislation on water resources development, transportation projects, and Superfund permitting policy, even as they are renewing concerns that the Trump administration’s various funding freezes would complicate such efforts. Their comments came during a May 14 hearing in which the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) discussed President Donald Trump’s nominations of John Busterud to serve as assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Adam...

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House GOP Floats Draft Bills To Scrap EPA Auto Rules, IRA Climate Funds

House Republicans are floating draft legislation as part of their budget “reconciliation” effort that would repeal the Biden EPA’s multi-pollutant standards for light-duty vehicles, while also rescinding a variety of unobligated climate- and clean energy-related funds enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The proposals, included in draft legislation the House Energy & Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up at a May 13 meeting, also come alongside a proposal to give developers expedited permitting under the Natural...

States Seek SRF Flexibilities As EPW Prepares Bipartisan Reauthorization

State drinking water officials are urging lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) to incorporate additional flexibilities into EPA’s state revolving fund (SRF) program, measures that could be critical as the Trump administration seeks to slash the program’s annual appropriations. Flexibility “with future funding will be critical to achieving the goal of helping systems and communities that need the funding the most, Eric Oswald, president of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), told EPW’s April...

Senate Democrats Blast EPA Plans To Shutter GHG Reporting Program

Senate environment committee Democrats are urging EPA not to end the agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), arguing the 15-year-old data collection program was created pursuant to a congressional directive and that it bolsters U.S. competitiveness by enabling industry to prove it has lower emissions than overseas competitors. The Democrats “strongly urge you to halt your plans to shutter the GHGRP and related offices and to reinstate any functions already dissolved,” reads a May 7 letter to EPA Administrator Lee...

EPW to hold hearing on OLEM, Army Corps nominees

The Senate environment committee is holding a hearing on key Trump administration nominees, including John Busterud, who has been nominated to serve as assistant administrator for EPA’s waste office, and Adam Telle, who has been nominated to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, which oversees dredge-and-fill permits. The Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) is holding a May 14 hearing on Busterud, Telle and Sean McMaster, who President Donald Trump has nominated to lead the Federal...

House GOP Weighs Brownfields Cuts As Democrats Fear Cleanup Delays

Some congressional Republicans appear skeptical of maintaining funding levels for EPA’s traditionally bipartisan brownfields program, as Democrats warn that President Donald Trump’s proposed 55 percent cuts to the agency will hamstring the program’s efforts to clean and redevelop contaminated areas. “In November, the American people spoke loud and clear,” Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), chair of the House transportation committee’s Water Resources and Environment subcommittee, told a May 7 hearing on the brownfields law, which expires this year. “First of all,...

GOP Urged To Save Muni Bond Tax Waiver Amid Water Infrastructure Fears

State and water utility officials are pressing House Republicans to preserve tax exemptions for interest on municipal bonds in upcoming budget reconciliation legislation, warning that eliminating the exemption would threaten a key source of funding for drinking water and clean water infrastructure. Targeting the exemption is “no longer a fringe idea,” Jarron Brady, policy analyst at the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), told the Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities’ summit on water infrastructure last month. “It is a target, and...

Brownfields Redevelopers Push Congress For PFAS Liability Exemption

Brownfield redevelopers are urging Congress to pass a PFAS liability carveout in cases where parties have voluntarily entered into a state-level brownfield cleanup agreement, a request that could expand any Superfund liability exemptions related to PFAS that key lawmakers and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are seeking. During a May 7 hearing before the House transportation committee’s water resources and environment subcommittee, one brownfields redeveloper argued that such an exemption would lead to greater private investment in contaminated sites amid cuts...

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