White House Says Trump Meant Epa Will Cut 65 Percent Of Spending, Not Staff

At Wednesday morning's Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump praised Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for a plan to make aggressive cuts at the agency and lay off 65 percent of its workforce.

Hours later, the White House walked back the president's comments, saying that EPA intends to cut 65 percent of its spending, not 65 percent of the agency's staff — pulling back a statement that rattled employees at the agency charged with protecting the nation's air and water.

The rapid turn of events was the latest evidence of confusion that has swept across the federal government as the Trump administration seeks to reshape the federal bureaucracy by cutting spending and paring back the federal workforce.

“I spoke with Lee Zeldin and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from Environmental [Protection Agency] and we're going to speed up the process, too,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting attended by Zeldin.

A White House spokesperson later clarified that Trump was referring a planned 65 percent cut to EPA's budget, not its workforce.

“President Trump, DOGE, and Administrator Zeldin are committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse across all agencies," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency. "After recently identifying $20 billion fraudulent in spending, Administrator Zeldin is committed to eliminating 65% of the EPA’s wasteful spending.”

The $20 billion Rogers referred to is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, for which the Biden administration placed $20 billion in grants to be administered by nonprofit groups in Citibank. EPA has not identified any fraud under the program but is trying to get the money back from Citibank.

Such a gutting of EPA's budget would almost certainly mean significant reductions in staff. The president's statement came shortly after the White House ordered EPA and other federal agencies to submit plans for "large-scale reductions in force" by mid-March.

EPA earlier this month terminated 388 workers, or about 2.5 percent of its workforce. However, at least some of those personnel have been called back, mirroring rehirings at other agencies for personnel who were apparently fired inadvertently.

In its own statement, EPA did not comment directly on Trump's remarks.

"President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin are in lock step in creating a more efficient and effective federal government," the agency said. "Compared to 2024, the total amount spent year over year at EPA will deliver significant efficiencies to American taxpayers by cutting wasteful grants, reassessing the agency’s real estate footprint, and delivering organizational improvements to the personnel structure."

EPA has approximately a $10 billion annual budget, not counting over $100 million in one-time appropriations flowing through the agency via the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law.

During his first term, Trump routinely proposed some of the largest percentage cuts to the budget of any agency for EPA, such as in 2020, when he proposed a 27 percent reduction. However, Congress repeatedly declined to make drastic cuts to EPA's appropriations.

Environmental groups on Wednesday quickly slammed Trump's initial statement that EPA would be slashing 65 percent of its staff.

It "takes a wrecking ball to EPA, throwing the doors wide open for corporate polluters to freely dump toxic chemicals in the air we breathe and the water we all drink," Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, a group of EPA alumni, said in a statement.

Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, called the plan "sinister."

"Let’s call this what it is: sabotage of the Environmental Protection Agency and the critical work it performs every day," he added.

In addition, Trump said Zeldin has discovered nonexistent personnel on EPA’s payrolls although the president did not elaborate.

“At the same time, you had a lot of people that weren't doing their job. They were just obstructionists, and a lot of people that didn't exist,” Trump said. “I guess, Lee, too — we found a lot of empty spots. The people weren't there, they didn't exist.”

The White House and EPA did not answer questions about whether Trump’s characterization of nonexistent employees was accurate or the extent of the potential issue.