Jan. 30 (UPI) — The Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The 100 senators voted mostly along party lines on Wednesday to confirm Zeldin, with 56 voting yea to 42 nay. Two Democrats — Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jon Ossoff of Georgia — did not vote.
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Mark Kelly of Arizona joined their Republican colleagues in voting in favor of Zeldin.
“Thank you to the 56 Senators for your vote and confidence,” Zeldin said on X. “Grateful to President @realDonaldTrump for having the faith in me to be part of his Cabinet as @EPA Administrator.
“Make America Great Again!”
Zeldin is the seventh politician to be confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet. He has been charged with ushering in deregulations to empower businesses while simultaneously protecting the environment.
However, the former House representative from New York has a history of voting against efforts to curb climate change during his eight years in Congress, which raised concerns among Democrats over whether he will actually put the environment first.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, warned earlier this month during a hearing that Zeldin would be “a rubber stamp for looters and polluters” backing Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax.”
During the confirmation hearing Wednesday, Whitehouse said the EPA needs an administrator who will take climate change seriously and stand up to political pressure.
“President Trump is completely mistaken and under the thumb of the fossil fuel industry, and against that will stand the EPA administrator, who has to be truthful and factual and support and defend our environment and our safety from climate change,” he said from the floor.
“I have nothing against Lee Zeldin personally, but the likelihood of him standing against that fossil fuel bulldozer that is coming at him is essentially zero.”
However, Republicans cheered his confirmation, with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, calling Zeldin “well qualified and capable of returning the EPA to its core missions of protecting our land, air and water, without inhibiting economic development.
“Congressman Zeldin will lead the EPA as the agency addresses the environmental needs of our country, and he is committed to properly implementing the laws of Congress through collaboration with the members of our Committee,” she said in a statement.
“I am confident he will perform the role of EPA administrator exceptionally well, and be a central member of President Trump’s cabinet as they enact policies and solutions to the environment, infrastructure and energy challenges of our time.”