During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) spoke about the environmental regulations of the Biden Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Two points, a short one and a long one.
00:05The short one is simply this.
00:10To remind my colleagues that at the beginning of the year, we get a Senate calendar that
00:17says what days we're going to be in session and what days we aren't going to be in session.
00:26Beginning now, in the end of the fiscal year, September 30th, we have 16 Fridays that we're
00:38supposed to be in session.
00:42Will we be in session on those Fridays?
00:46We've had a few Friday sessions this year so far, but I'm afraid if we don't count on being a little more
01:01devoted to a five-day work week, those Fridays will slip away from us.
01:07I bring that to our attention because we always are complaining because we don't have enough
01:13time to do appropriation bills.
01:16These extra 16 days that we might not be in session would be a good amount of time
01:23to take care of the 12 appropriation bills that we have to do regularly.
01:29Now I always say there's enough work for a Senator, an individual Senator, to do seven
01:35days a week if he wants to work it, but you can't solve this country's problems if you're
01:40only in session two and a half or three days a week, and that's what was the practice of
01:49the United States Senate before the Republicans took over.
01:55Republicans are supposed to make a difference, and I think a big difference we can make in
02:00the United States Senate is showing that we're running in a business-like way, the United
02:06States Senate, and that is to get more work done and particularly do our separate appropriation
02:13bills instead of doing one great big thousand-page appropriation bill just before government's
02:19ready to shut down.
02:22The second point, and a little longer, is to discuss for my colleagues the disastrous
02:30legacy of the Biden-Harris administration's Environmental Protection Agency.
02:38Sadly, the recent revelations of wasteful spending by the EPA under the last administration
02:48are no surprise, and if you're a Democrat and you get tired of Republicans complaining
02:55about something being wrong in the previous administration, hear me out, and I think you'll
03:02agree that a lot of things happened at the end of the last administration that are just
03:08a violent misuse of taxpayers' money.
03:14Two years ago, I wrote to the Biden EPA about a program called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction
03:25Fund.
03:26I asked a very simple question, how the EPA planned to administer and oversee the taxpayers'
03:38money that was going to be spent by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
03:45I also expressed doubts about the EPA's handling such a large program given the agency's lack
03:55of oversight of how they expend the taxpayers' money.
04:01And as you would expect, I requested its plans to ensure this money would be spent responsibly.
04:11Now these are pretty simple questions that Congress and the taxpayers ought to be given
04:19an answer to.
04:21In its response to my letters, the Biden EPA gave me lip service about its commitment to
04:31the oversight of the spending of the money in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
04:40The Biden EPA said it would require, quote, rigorous, transparent risk management and
04:49accountability measures, end of quote.
04:52Now if they'd actually done that, that's a responsible way of handling the taxpayers'
04:58money.
04:59But the Biden EPA failed to describe how it would accomplish all of that rigorous transparency
05:12and also answer the questions that I asked them to answer.
05:19And clearly then, based upon the Trump administration's recent revelation of fraud, waste and
05:28abuse, EPA's response to me was really, in the end, nothing but lip service.
05:37For example, in December of last year, the Biden-Harris administration near its end, Brent
05:47Elfron, EPA's Special Advisor for Implementation, was actually filmed saying the agency had
05:57raised taxpayer money out the door.
06:04That EPA official called the effort an insurance policy against the incoming Trump administration
06:18to make sure that the money was out the door so the Trump administration couldn't stop
06:25it.
06:26The EPA official also stated, now this is Brent Elfron, quote, it's like we're on the
06:35Titanic and we're throwing gold bars over the edge, end of quote.
06:43The EPA official said his job was, quote, just how to get the money out as fast as possible
06:53before they came in and stopped it all, end of quote.
06:58The they he was talking about is the new Trump administration.
07:04Now, this conduct is an example of the contempt and the lack of respect that the previous
07:15administration had for the American taxpayer's dollars.
07:21In January of this year, I met with Lee Zeldin in my office before his confirmation as President
07:29Trump's EPA administrator.
07:32I was encouraged by his shared commitment to transparency and accountability.
07:43After he took office, after Mr. Zeldin took office, I wrote to him asking that he find
07:51the gold bars, so to speak, and take steps to get this taxpayer's money back that was
07:59shoveled out the door in the last few days of the previous administration.
08:05Since that letter, Administrator Zeldin found that in the months leading up to President
08:12Trump's taking office, the Biden-Harris EPA sheltered $20 billion of the Greenhouse Gas
08:22Reduction Fund out of the Treasury at Citibank.
08:28Now, that's a lot of gold bars.
08:36Administrator Zeldin explained this unprecedented move by the Biden EPA was done to protect
08:45the program from government oversight.
08:49This revelation shows the Biden EPA not only obstructed my investigations, but the oversight
09:00assurances it tried to offer me were dishonest.
09:07Administrator Zeldin also referred this mismanagement to the EPA Acting Inspector General and noted
09:16that there's an ongoing FBI investigation.
09:21I'm encouraged by what Administrator Zeldin has done so far, and I expect him to provide
09:31records responsive to my inquiries showing the Biden EPA fraud, waste, and abuse.
09:40Now, a closer look into the recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund exposed
09:49several ethical red flags.
09:53Jahi Wise, President Biden picked to lead the program, oversaw a $5 billion grant to
10:04his former employer.
10:08That employer is the Coalition for Green Capital.
10:12And on August 8th, 2024, quote, build the National Green Bank and a network with self-sustaining
10:24community leaders in every state, end of quote.
10:29Another $2 billion taxpayer dollars went to an organization called Power Forward Communities.
10:40And on August the 8th, to reportedly offer financing for residential carbon emission
10:49reduction projects, end of quote, Power Forward Communities is made of five non-government
10:58organizations including Rewiring America.
11:04The leadership of this group is full of familiar faces from past Democratic administrations,
11:12and I'll give you four examples.
11:15Sean Donovan, listed on Power Forward's tax documents as the Director and Co-Chair, was
11:24President Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
11:29Ari Matuszek, also listed as a Director and Co-Chair, served as Special Assistant to President
11:40Obama and Director of Private Sector Engagement in the Obama White House.
11:46The Vice President of Rewiring America is Cammie Croft, Deputy Director in the Obama
11:53White House and Senior Advisor in the Obama Department of Energy.
12:00And then a name that's pretty famous to anybody in politics and really famous in Georgia is
12:09Stacey Abrams.
12:12The failed gubernatorial nominee that President Obama campaigned for is reportedly Senior
12:20Counsel for Rewiring America.
12:25The FBI and the EPA Office of Inspector General must fully investigate this situation and
12:34determine where the money was used to line the pockets of well-connected Democrats.
12:42As my oversight has shown, the legacy of Biden-Harris administration EPA will be one
12:50of unprecedented spending with no accountability and transparency.
12:58This blatant lack of discipline and lack of respect for the taxpayers' money enabled EPA's
13:07left-wing allies to profit at the expense of the American taxpayer.
13:14All the while, while the Biden EPA obstructed my efforts to conduct independent and objective
13:22oversight.
13:25President Trump and Administrator Zeldin must return the EPA to its mission of protecting
13:34the health of our environment while spending taxpayers' dollars with transparency and accountability.
13:44My message to the new Director of EPA, Administrator Zeldin, is this.
13:52Keep exposing waste, fraud, and abuse and provide all the records.
13:58I yield the floor.