Appropriations Democrats press Zeldin on ‘illegal’ EPA grant freeze

Four congressional Democrats in senior positions on appropriations panels wrote to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday calling the Trump administration’s freeze on preappropriated EPA funds an illegal “gross dereliction of duty.”

The letter is signed by top Senate Appropriations Committee Democrat Patty Murray (Wash.) and her House counterpart Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), as well as Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the ranking members of the panels’ Interior Department subcommittees.

The four members specifically reference an executive order President Trump signed in his first week in office freezing the disbursement of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Soon after, the White House issued guidance clarifying that the freeze specifically applied to grants relating to climate change mitigation and electric vehicle charging networks.

“All of EPA’s funding must be made available and disbursed pursuant to the law with no exceptions,” the four members wrote.

The letter cites the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the federal law that restricts the executive branch’s ability to impound any funds already appropriated by Congress. Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee for budget director, told a Senate committee in January he believes that law to be unconstitutional.

“Funding freezes – which the administration intentionally implemented before court intervention – devastate programs that protect public health and the environment while increasing costs for families. The Trump Administration will be raising energy costs for families and businesses will be losing out on thousands of potential jobs as programs like Solar for All and Clean School Bus rebates are terminated,” the lawmakers’ letter states. “Continuing to freeze these investments—or permanently blocking them—will unravel critical progress the Agency has made towards clean air and clean water and cost American households and businesses dearly.”

The letter asks for clarifications on the executive order’s limit on “disbursements” and whether it applies to only payments or broader EPA financial obligations, as well as the fiscal years it affects and the extent to which the agency has notified the intended grant recipients.

An EPA spokesperson told The Hill the agency “will review the letter and will respond through appropriate channels.”

Updated at 10:41 a.m. EST