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WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been significantly impacted by the ongoing government shutdown, leading to the furlough of about 4,000 workers. The agency’s Administrator, Lee Zeldin, has pointed fingers at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), accusing him of prioritizing a “far-left activist base” over resolving the deadlock.
During a press briefing at EPA headquarters on Tuesday, Zeldin, who previously served as a Republican congressman from New York, discussed the shutdown’s repercussions on the agency’s operations. He highlighted the challenges they face, even with some remaining funds.
“We had some carryover funding, so when October 1 arrived, we weren’t immediately in a complete halt,” Zeldin clarified. “A full shutdown for us means an 89 percent employee furlough. Last Monday marked the first major furlough, affecting approximately 4,000 of our staff.”
As of January, the EPA employed 16,155 individuals, with plans to reduce that number to below 12,500 by the year’s end. Zeldin mentioned that the agency is still slightly above this target, suggesting that a “total lapse” could potentially see over 11,000 employees furloughed.
Though a substantial number of employees remain active, Zeldin warned that funds to maintain their salaries will deplete if the shutdown persists. This situation poses a significant challenge to the agency’s ability to continue its critical environmental projects.
“Everyone who we’ve had working up to this point has known that they are getting paid, and we’re using carryover funding that the agency currently has. But when that money runs out, that’s it,” he said, explaining that employees in “particular positions” who cannot be furloughed will have to continue working without payment.
“We’re not trying to cause more pain. We’re trying to mitigate the pain. We prevented that furlough as long as we could,” he continued, referring to the 4,000 workers from last Monday. “When the money’s out, it’s out.”
When asked about EPA projects that have suffered due to the congressional gridlock, Zeldin named the Brownfields Program, which provides grants and technical assistance to assess and clean up contaminated areas around the country.
“There are really important projects” under the Brownfields Program that are “not able to advance with the employees who are running the point on those projects not being here,” he said. “Our preference would be for the shutdown to end immediately for us to be able to have all of our employees.”
On Schumer, Zeldin argued that his fight against the Republicans’ clean continuing resolution (CR) is to appease the Democrats’ far-left base.
“As far as Senator Schumer goes and what his motivation is, he seems to just be looking to put up a fight for a far-left activist base. Just to put up a fight… He’s concerned about the lack of support that he’s seen amongst the activists back in New York,” the EPA chief said of the home state that he shares with Schumer.
“And this is about self preservation — Democrats were desperately searching for some kind of, you know, context or narrative to try to explain why they were fighting,” he continued. “At the end of the day, the fact remains that what is motivating this has just been the desire to appease a far-left activist base that wants congressional Democrats to resist, oppose, and obstruct everything and anything.”
Back in July, the EPA secured an agreement with Mexico to finally solve the decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis, Breitbart News reported. Zeldin had met with his Mexican counterpart, Alicia Bárcena, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the countries to stop the flow of raw, untreated sewage polluting southern California.
Included in the MOU were several timeline speed-ups, including a 100-day deadline to “evaluate all infrastructure project construction schedules to ensure completion at the earliest possible date.” That deadline is looming just a few days away on Saturday, November 1.
When asked if that progress had suffered at all due to the shutdown, Zeldin said his agency has been “full steam ahead.”
“That 100 day timeline ends in the coming days, that work has not ended. It’s actually only picked up as November 1 has gotten closer, and I am anxiously awaiting the latest update on what was agreed to in getting project timelines reduced in order to actually achieve a permanent 100 percent solution,” he stated, adding that President Donald Trump has told him that it is a “very important priority” of his.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
