Chuck Grassley: “I come to the floor to discuss with my colleagues the fact that Agencies of the Federal Government aren't very…”

“I come to the floor to discuss with my colleagues the fact that Agencies of the Federal Government aren't very insightful to make sure that taxpayers' money is spent properly and also to say how they are not cooperating with the constitutional responsibility of Congress to make sure the money is spent in a legal way. In this case, I am here to talk about the Environmental Protection Agency. On April 13, I began an investigation into an EPA program called the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program. Now that is quite a name, isn't it? On February 22 of this year, I issued a preliminary report on my investigation. That EPA program dishes out millions of taxpayer dollars to left-leaning nonprofits. The funding is from President Biden's American Rescue Plan, which was opposed by Senate Republicans. According to the EPA, the purpose of this environmental justice program is to address environmental and public health issues in underserved communities. As part of that program, the EPA sent 34 individual nonprofits a combined $4.3 million, with each receiving up to $200,000. I think the money was meant to be spent for the purpose of improving the environment--and I don't have any trouble with that--but I think you will see that the grantees didn't use the money for what it was intended for. Now, I wrote to all 34 grantees because I wanted to know how they spent that taxpayer money.…”