“Top DOGE” Sen. Joni Ernst is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to cease awarding new grants until President-elect Donald Trump’s administration sets up new leadership.
Ernst (R-Iowa) accused the EPA of “shoveling out heaps of taxpayer dollars as fast as possible” in anticipation ahead of President Biden’s White House exits. She is also demanding the EPA fork over key information about its grant funds.
“Biden’s bureaucrats are in a race against each other to see who can shovel more money out the door in the final days of his administration,” Ernst told The Post in a statement.
“No matter who wins, you can be sure that taxpayers will lose. I am partnering with DOGE to put an end to the ‘spend now, think later’ mentality in Washington that has created the $36 trillion debt.”
In a Thursday letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, she noted how the agency awarded some $1.6 billion via its Community Change Grants program last week as an example of her concerns, noting that “only $325 million had previously been awarded through the program since its inception.”
The Hawkeye State Republican drew a parallel to the Commerce Department, whom she pressed last week over concerns that the department was rapidly doling out funds from the CHIPs and Science Act ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s ascension into the White House.
She also recounted estimates that suggested fraudsters may have captured some $280 billion in funds related to the COVID-19 pandemic in a mad dash to get the money out quickly.
“American taxpayers deserve to know their hard-earned dollars are spent wisely and responsibly on projects being properly vetted to guarantee they will actually advance our national interests, rather than the personal or political interests of any one person in Washington,” Ernst wrote in her letter to Regan.
She also chided the EPA for awarding $50 million to the Climate Justice Alliance last year, emphasizing that the group would not denounce the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Ernst demanded the EPA preserve records on funding decisions under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
The Iowa senator further demanded information on negotiations between the EPA and other groups applying for grants to receive funds through those programs, whether the EPA is expediting consideration of those grants and communications between the agency and the incoming Trump administration.
Trump has tapped former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to serve as EPA administrator.
Ernst is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus in the Senate. She has vowed to collaborate with DOGE co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on rooting out government waste.
The Post reached out to the EPA for comment.
