Ricketts, Capito Expose EPA’s Reckless Spending on Radical Groups

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led a press conference to discuss the alarming trend of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funneling funds to extremist organizations through the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Ricketts expressed concerns about the EPA’s funding of radical groups, including the Climate Justice Alliance and NDN Collective, which hold anti-American positions such as abolishing military, police, and border security. He emphasized that Americans don’t want their hard-earned tax dollars used to support organizations with such radical views.

“When you’re giving money to organizations, like the Climate Justice Alliance, and they are funding the March on Washington, and they are waving the free Palestinian flags and so forth, we’re paying them to lobby our government,” Ricketts said. “I got to tell you. Everyday Nebraskans don’t think that’s a good idea – that our tax dollars should go to radical organizations to lobby our own government.”

“That’s not how they want their money spent. They want their money spent here in Washington, D.C. wisely,” Ricketts continued. “And when you see the frustration that people have for Washington DC, this is a prime example of why they have that frustration.”

The funding continues to flow from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $3 billion in Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program.

TRANSCRIPT

Senator Pete Ricketts: “Well, thank you Senator Capito, for highlighting this and showing some transparency and some sunlight on what’s going on here with regard to these grants through the Inflation Reduction Act.

“But as you all more aptly named it, the Investment In Radical Activists Act, because that’s exactly what we’re doing here. When you’re giving money to organizations, like the Climate Justice Alliance, and they are funding the March on Washington, and they are waving the free Palestinian flags and so forth, we’re paying them to lobby our government.

“I got to tell you. Everyday Nebraskans don’t think that’s a good idea – that our tax dollars should go to radical organizations to lobby our own government.

“That’s just crazy. And you’re talking about the NDN Collective and the things they want to do like abolishing the military, abolishing the police, abolishing Customs and Border Protection, abolishing Immigration Customs Enforcement.

“Again, everyday Americans think those organizations are important organizations. And we want to keep them to keep us safe. They are way out of step with what every day Americans want to see. This is really, really radical stuff that they’re promoting.

“And then we have organizations like the, Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs who are spreading climate alarmism and again, funding left wing groups.

“This is not what our tax dollars are supposed to go for, and to your point about the EPA, because all this money is going through the EPA, I was just talking to a company yesterday who said, ‘hey, we need more help with getting permits done. We can’t get permits fast enough, frankly, for some of these environmental projects, even.’

“And it’s because the money is going to fund these radical organizations. And nobody’s paying attention to how many people they’ve got working in their different regions to be able to help get these permits processed.

“So on the one hand, the EPA has got legitimate business they’re not getting done. On the other hand, they’re funding these radical environmentalists and other sorts of organizations. And again, just gets back to everyday Americans. That’s not how they want their money spent. They want their money spent here in Washington, D.C. wisely.”

“And when you see the frustration that people have for Washington DC, this is a prime example of why they have that frustration.

“So I want to again thank Senator Capito for highlighting this, for shining some sunshine on this, so that we can get some changes made.

“We are now sitting at $35 trillion in debt. We have got to get our spending under control and spending on this kind of radical activism is not the way we should be spending our tax dollars.”