“Prime DOGE” Sen. Joni Ernst is asking on the Environmental Safety Company to stop awarding new grants till President-elect Donald Trump’s administration units up new management.
Ernst (R-Iowa) accused the EPA of “shoveling out heaps of taxpayer {dollars} as quick as attainable” in anticipation forward of President Biden’s White Home exits. She can also be demanding the EPA fork over key details about its grant funds.
“Biden’s bureaucrats are in a race towards one another to see who can shovel extra money out the door within the ultimate days of his administration,” Ernst instructed The Put up in an announcement.
“Irrespective of who wins, you may ensure that taxpayers will lose. I’m partnering with DOGE to place an finish to the ‘spend now, suppose later’ mentality in Washington that has created the $36 trillion debt.”
In a Thursday letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, she famous how the company awarded some $1.6 billion through its Neighborhood Change Grants program final week for example of her considerations, noting that “solely $325 million had beforehand been awarded by means of this system since its inception.”
The Hawkeye State Republican drew a parallel to the Commerce Division, whom she pressed final week over considerations that the division was quickly doling out funds from the CHIPs and Science Act forward of President-elect Donald Trump’s ascension into the White Home.
She additionally recounted estimates that instructed fraudsters might have captured some $280 billion in funds associated to the COVID-19 pandemic in a mad sprint to get the cash out shortly.
“American taxpayers should know their hard-earned {dollars} are spent properly and responsibly on tasks being correctly vetted to ensure they’ll truly advance our nationwide pursuits, quite than the private or political pursuits of anybody particular person in Washington,” Ernst wrote in her letter to Regan.
She additionally chided the EPA for awarding $50 million to the Local weather Justice Alliance final yr, emphasizing that the group wouldn’t denounce the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel.
Ernst demanded the EPA protect information on funding selections underneath the Inflation Discount Act and Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act of 2021.
The Iowa senator additional demanded data on negotiations between the EPA and different teams making use of for grants to obtain funds by means of these packages, whether or not the EPA is expediting consideration of these grants and communications between the company and the incoming Trump administration.
Trump has tapped former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to function EPA administrator.
Ernst is the top of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) caucus within the Senate. She has vowed to collaborate with DOGE co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on rooting out authorities waste.
The Put up reached out to the EPA for remark.
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