Climate Advocates Demonstrate to Oppose Trump, Zeldin’s Polluters First Agenda and Proposed EPA Cuts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2025
CONTACT: Gabrielle Levy, Glevy@cacampaign.org, 562-673-6974
Climate Advocates Demonstrate to Oppose Trump, Zeldin’s Polluters First Agenda and Proposed EPA Cuts
Inhaler-Wielding Advocates Object to Cuts, Rolling Back Clean Air and Climate Protections
WASHINGTON–Climate advocates wielding inhalers, masks and a letter signed by more than 100 groups demonstrated against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and the Trump administration’s budget proposal for the agency, including the proposed 55% across-the-board cut, at today’s budget hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Climate Action Campaign advocates, seated behind Zeldin at the hearing, were wearing blue “Zeldin Makes Us Sick” T-shirts and using medically necessary inhalers to indicate their opposition to increased levels of dangerous and toxic pollution expected if the proposed EPA cuts are adopted by Congress. Organizers released a letter signed by more than 100 climate, health, environmental justice, faith-based and conservation organizations demanding that Congress reject these draconian cuts, secure reliable funding and resources needed to tackle air pollution and climate change, and lawfully disburse all previously appropriated staff and program funds.
"As the parent of a child with asthma for over 40 years – and who has lived with asthma myself for seven decades – I know what it’s like to struggle to breathe and to live in fear that my daughter could end up in the hospital or even die because of a bad air day," said Candice Egan, a volunteer from Delhi, New York, who attended the hearing with her prescription inhaler. "Clean air protections are a lifeline for people with respiratory illness. The Trump administration is literally making us sick and risking our lives: My daughter and I will be among the millions who suffer thanks to Trump and Zeldin’s Polluters First Agenda, which will result in dirty air, more kids with asthma and more severe asthma attacks."
Volunteers hold their medically prescribed inhalers during Administrator Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Since becoming the top official at EPA, Administrator Zeldin has injected chaos and uncertainty into our environmental and energy policies. From attempting to roll back over 30 life-saving climate and health protections to canceling hundreds of research and community investment grants, to cutting the scientists and experts we rely on to protect our air and our health, Trump and Zeldin’s priorities are clear: polluters over the people.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has an important mission – to protect our health and environment. EPA Administrator Zeldin’s Polluters First Agenda is a betrayal of that mission and a betrayal of the American people who expect the EPA to protect them from the dangerous and deadly impacts of pollution," said Caroline Martin, a retired nurse from Springfield, Virginia, who attended the hearing to protest the proposed cuts. “Nurses like me see the impacts of the climate crisis everyday. From a growing number of people struggling to breathe, to families displaced and hurt by wildfires, these cuts will cost lives. Americans deserve an EPA that will put people, not polluters, first.”
Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have questioned the administrator on how the EPA could fulfill its core mission under such drastic cuts, pointing to the alarming rise in health harms and climate-driven disasters that are overwhelming communities nationwide. Lawmakers and advocates have warned these attacks on the agency would let polluters off the hook and force the American people to breathe dirtier air, lose good-paying jobs, and foot the bill for soaring healthcare expenses and emergency response and rebuilding costs due to the worsening climate crisis.
###
About the Climate Action Campaign
Climate Action Campaign (CAC) is a vibrant coalition driving ambitious, durable, equitable federal action to tackle the climate crisis. By cutting carbon pollution and accelerating the transition to clean energy, we will improve public health and create a more resilient economy and a more sustainable future for all.
