Head of EPA Lee Zeldin was on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo to discuss the government shutdown. He explained that the agency was going to have layoffs as a result of the shutdown. The Schumer shutdown started on October 1st and is still going with no end in sight.
“Give us the news in terms of potential layoffs at the EPA, should this government not reopen this week,” Bartiromo asked.
“About 3 weeks ago, where EPA had a 4,000 staff furlough kicked in, but now we’re at the position where we are getting closer to this is the last pay period before a far more severe, drastic furlough is going to kick in at the EPA,” Zeldin warned.
“We are going to see impacts for environmental protection across the board,” Zeldin said.
“The office of water, which is responsible for the Safe Drinking Water Act, will be operating at less than 40 percent,” Zeldin continued.
“The office of enforcement and compliance will be down over 70 percent. That is an enforcement and compliance of the environmental laws of this country,” Zeldin said.
“Unfortunately, we are at a crossroads moment where Congressional Democrats are choosing to use this as leverage, and they are wrong,” Zeldin continued.
“Are these permanent job cuts?” Bartiromo asked.
“We are going through a reorganization all year at EPA. We came in with an employee staff size of over 16,000. By the end of this year, we will be at twelve and a half. We are cutting about a quarter of the agency size,” Zeldin said.
“We will actually do more with less, fulfilling our statutory obligations, fulfilling Presidential policy priorities,” Zeldin continued.
“We are going to focus on what the plain language of statute says to fulfill our mission,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin shared his thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York Mayoral election, which took place last Tuesday. Zeldin himself was a former candidate for New York governor for the Republican Party.
“What do you make of what’s going on in New York? You ran for governor of New York,” Bartiromo asked.
“I feel bad for the New Yorkers who tried to stop it. I feel bad for the former New Yorkers who have fled, but I don’t feel bad for those who voted for it, and others who decided to stay on the sidelines,” Zeldin explained.
“The Democratic party chose to nominate a guy who is a socialist, who is a communist,” Zeldin continued.
Watch:
Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin @leezeldin spoke about his agency set to furlough additional employees because of the government shutdown.@foxnews pic.twitter.com/zssoNgvLSO
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) November 9, 2025
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