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Administrator Zeldin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro Clash over Loper Bright at Budget Hearing, Apr. 29, 2026

April 29, 2026 · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · 0:02:34

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Rep. Rosa DeLauro asks Administrator Lee Zeldin how the EPA can justify, as she put it, abandoning its duty to protect Americans from climate change. Zeldin responds by citing Section 202 of the Clean Air Act and asking where it mentions fighting global climate change, and invokes the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, which, as he stated it, means an agency does not have authority to get creative beyond the statute.

When DeLauro says she is not familiar with Loper Bright, Zeldin presses her on the major questions doctrine and cites Michigan v. EPA and West Virginia v. EPA as, in his words, the biggest landmark Supreme Court cases of the last few years on the question. The exchange escalates, with DeLauro noting the Administrator is before the appropriations committee seeking money and Zeldin answering that, as he put it, he reads the law and does his homework.

Why it matters

The exchange states the administration’s legal theory for its environmental rollbacks — statutory text as read through Loper Bright and the major questions doctrine — in the Administrator’s own words to the committee that funds his agency.

Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Administrator Zeldin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro Clash over Loper Bright at Budget Hearing, Apr. 29, 2026”, 2026-04-29 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-04-29). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.