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House Committee on Energy and Commerce opens hearing on EPA FY2027 budget request
Summary
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce opened a hearing to consider President Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency. The committee chair praised Administrator Lee Zeldin, outlined priorities including drinking-water monitoring and Superfund funding, and framed the request as fiscally responsible.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce opened a hearing to consider President Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency, with the committee chair praising Administrator Lee Zeldin and laying out the administration’s priorities, the hearing transcript shows.
The chair welcomed Administrator Lee Zeldin and said he believed Zeldin had done an “excellent job as Administrator.” The chair thanked the administration “for returning the EPA to its rightful role of protecting human health and cleaning up the environment, not as an anti-jobs agency,” and said the current EPA has “closely followed its enabling statutes.”
The chair summarized the FY2027 request as $4.2 billion in new budget authority, saying it would provide “more than 2.5 billion for EPA environmental management programs, as well as almost 750 million in grant assistance for states and tribes, more than 500 million for science and technology activities, and 290 million for Superfund site cleanup.” He framed the proposal as “fiscally responsible” and focused on infrastructure and cleanup goals.
The chair also cited recent one-time federal appropriations, saying the EPA received about $100 billion for fiscal years 2022–2026 from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act and describing those funds as a “once in a generation supplement” intended for specific water-infrastructure and cleanup programs.
On program and regulatory priorities, the chair credited the agency with actions including cleanup of sewage spills, expedited Superfund closures and clarifying Clean Air Act guidance. He said the agency has been directed to undo what he described as prior "regulatory overreach," and stated the EPA finalized a repeal of the 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act.
The chair said EPA has prioritized actions to safeguard drinking water and cited a proposal to require monitoring of microplastics, PFAS and pharmaceuticals under the Safe Drinking Water Act. He also criticized earlier administration initiatives described as "Green New Deal and DEI initiatives," saying the current approach reined those in.
The chair closed by noting his earlier work reviewing EPA statutory authorities and saying Chairman Palmer has continued hearings and markups on reauthorizations for the Toxic Substances Control Act, brownfield laws and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and by saying he looked forward to hearing Administrator Zeldin’s priorities for the agency.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in the opening remarks captured in the transcript.
