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Washington’s partisan circus reached a new low this month when the federal government went into a partial shutdown on October 1, 2025, leaving hardworking Americans to pick up the pieces while Washington postures and points fingers. The media will try to make this a moral equivalence game, but the reality is simple: failed negotiations and refusal to curb runaway spending put the country in this position. The American people are tired of chaos in the capital and deserve leaders who prioritize results over theatrical blame-shifting.
The Environmental Protection Agency, like many agencies, has been forced to operate on a skeleton crew during the lapse in appropriations — EPA contingency plans show the agency would retain only about 11 to 12 percent of its workforce during a shutdown, effectively furloughing roughly nine out of ten employees and halting most permitting and enforcement actions. That sobering reality exposes how bloated and inflexible federal bureaucracies have grown, and it underscores why conservative reforms to streamline and reprioritize government work were overdue. While essential safety and emergency functions continue, ordinary regulatory backlogs will pile up and the public will see firsthand which parts of government are truly necessary.
Into this maelstrom EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has stepped with a clear, pro-worker message: you can protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. On Newsmax’s programming he emphasized cutting needless red tape, coordinating across agencies, and fast-tracking critical projects like domestic rare-earth refining to break our dependence on China — not an either/or fantasy, but commonsense stewardship. Conservatives should applaud a leader who recognizes that prosperity and stewardship go hand in hand and who speaks plainly to blue-collar Americans about protecting both jobs and clean air and water.
Zeldin hasn’t just talked — his EPA formally proposed rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding this summer, a move that would roll back a legal underpinning for sweeping greenhouse-gas regulations and restore regulatory clarity for American manufacturers and consumers. This isn’t about denying science; it’s about returning authority to elected representatives, reducing regulatory overreach, and stopping one-size-fits-all mandates that drive up costs for families and hollow out American industry. The left will scream that this endangers the planet, but the working people whose livelihoods depend on affordable energy and reliable transportation know better than to swallow that alarmist script.
Make no mistake: the fight over funding and policy is ultimately about who gets to decide America’s future — Washington elites who write costly mandates, or patriotic Americans who build things, fix things, and keep this country running. Zeldin’s push to speed permits for mining and refining critical minerals is as much about national security as it is about jobs; we cannot cede strategic supply chains to hostile regimes and pretend there won’t be consequences for our economy and our troops. Washington’s shutdown theater should remind voters that the permanent bureaucracy too often serves special interests, while conservative leaders are offering a practical vision for energy dominance and American resilience.
Now is the moment for patriots to stand behind reform that protects our environment without strangling our economy. Support for an EPA that promotes innovation, holds bad actors accountable, and cuts the red tape that penalizes small businesses and families is not radical — it’s common sense. If conservatives remain united behind leaders who fight for both clean air and good jobs, we can force a return to responsible governance that serves the American people first.
