内容摘要：The Capitol is seen in Washington, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Capitol is seen in Washington, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.’' Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more Americans contracting lung cancer and other illnesses.The heated exchanges, at a Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan differences over Zeldin’s deregulatory approach. Zeldin, a former Republican congressman, has said his tenure will turbocharge the American economy while ensuring clean air and water. Democrats say he is endangering the lives of millions of Americans and abandoning the agency’s dual mission to protect the environment and human health.

Zeldin, who took office in January, has proposed a flood of changes that wouldapproved by the Biden administration andincluding landmark regulations on climate change and pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told Zeldin that a planmeans that, to Zeldin and Trump, “more than half of the environmental efforts of the EPA ... to make sure Americans have clean air and clean water are just a waste.” If approved by Congress, the budget cuts “will mean there’s more diesel and more other particulate matter in the air” and that “water that Americans drink is going to have more chemicals,” Schiff said.

“Your legacy will be more lung cancer,” he told Zeldin. “It’ll be more bladder cancer. It’ll be more leukemia and pancreatic cancer ... more rare cancers of innumerable varieties.’'

Replied Zeldin: “I understand that you are an aspiring fiction writer. I see why.”statewide candidate in Wisconsin.

Liberals have a chance to expand their majority on the court next year to 5-2. If Bradley wins, the 4-3 liberal majority would be maintained.In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Taylor said she is running “to make sure that people get a fair shake, that the judiciary remains independent and impartial and that people have confidence in the judiciary.”

She accused Bradley of prioritizing a right-wing agenda, noting her siding with Trump in his unsuccessful attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss.Bradley did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment. But Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Brian Schimming called Taylor a “radical” and said she will have to answer for her “extremely partisan record in the legislature and on the bench.”