Swansenreport

A routine congressional budget hearing turned into must-see television Monday when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin coolly dismantled Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) on live camera — leaving the veteran congresswoman flustered, shouting, and ultimately telling Zeldin she didn’t “have to listen to this BS.”

Zeldin was appearing before the House Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies to defend President Trump’s 2027 budget request, which proposes cutting the EPA’s funding roughly in half — from $8.82 billion to $4.2 billion. WBAY DeLauro, the ranking member of the full Appropriations Committee, came in swinging on climate change and the EPA’s rollback of Biden-era regulations.

When DeLauro asked how the EPA could justify abandoning its duty to protect Americans from climate change, Zeldin turned the tables — asking her to point to where Section 202 of the Clean Air Act mentions fighting global climate change, then asking whether she was familiar with the Supreme Court case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. “Maybe others are, but I’m not,” DeLauro replied. Substack

That admission opened the door. Zeldin pressed further, noting that Loper Bright — a landmark 2024 ruling that reshaped the authority of regulatory agencies — means the EPA cannot “get creative” with how it interprets its statutory mandate. “You’re upset that you don’t know what Loper Bright is,” Zeldin said. “You’re a member of Congress. You should know.” Yahoo!

DeLauro admitted she did not know the case, but attacked the administration anyway, claiming Zeldin had no right to say climate change doesn’t exist. Turnto10 The exchange continued to deteriorate from there, with DeLauro at one point reminding Zeldin that the committee controls EPA’s funding — to which Zeldin responded that he had answered her question, she simply didn’t like the answer.

The clip went viral Monday night, with conservatives praising the exchange widely. Republican operative Matt Whitlock called it one of the most satisfying hearing exchanges he had ever seen, noting DeLauro had threatened to defund the very agency she was ostensibly defending. Yahoo! Zeldin posted the video himself afterward, writing that nothing infuriates an uninformed congressional Democrat more than realizing they’ve triggered a debate with someone who has actually read the statute.

Sources: Fox News | Bloomberg Law | Just the News | Breitbart