{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-capito-expose-epas-reckless-spending-on-radical-groups/", "Ricketts, Capito Expose EPA\u2019s Reckless Spending on Radical Groups", "2024-08-01", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Pete Ricketts", "R000618", "www.ricketts.senate.gov", "ricketts", "https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list&pagenum=", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 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\u2019 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).\n\nRicketts expressed concerns about the EPA\u2019s 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\u2019t want their hard-earned tax dollars used to support organizations with such radical views.\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re 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\u2019re paying them to lobby our government,\u201d Ricketts said. \u201cI got to tell you. Everyday Nebraskans don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good idea \u2013 that our tax dollars should go to radical organizations to lobby our own government.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not how they want their money spent. They want their money spent here in Washington, D.C. wisely,\u201d Ricketts continued. \u201cAnd when you see the frustration that people have for Washington DC, this is a prime example of why they have that frustration.\u201d\n\nThe funding continues to flow from the Inflation Reduction Act\u2019s $3 billion in Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program.\n\nTRANSCRIPT\n\nSenator Pete Ricketts: \u201cWell, thank you Senator Capito, for highlighting this and showing some transparency and some sunlight on what\u2019s going on here with regard to these grants through the Inflation Reduction Act.\n\n\u201cBut as you all more aptly named it, the Investment In Radical Activists Act, because that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing here. When you\u2019re 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\u2019re paying them to lobby our government.\n\n\u201cI got to tell you. Everyday Nebraskans don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good idea \u2013 that our tax dollars should go to radical organizations to lobby our own government.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s just crazy. And you\u2019re 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.\n\n\u201cAgain, 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\u2019re promoting.\n\n\u201cAnd then we have organizations like the, Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs who are spreading climate alarmism and again, funding left wing groups.\n\n\u201cThis 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, \u2018hey, we need more help with getting permits done. We can\u2019t get permits fast enough, frankly, for some of these environmental projects, even.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s because the money is going to fund these radical organizations. And nobody\u2019s paying attention to how many people they\u2019ve got working in their different regions to be able to help get these permits processed.\n\n\u201cSo on the one hand, the EPA has got legitimate business they\u2019re not getting done. On the other hand, they\u2019re funding these radical environmentalists and other sorts of organizations. And again, just gets back to everyday Americans. That\u2019s not how they want their money spent. They want their money spent here in Washington, D.C. wisely.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd when you see the frustration that people have for Washington DC, this is a prime example of why they have that frustration.\n\n\u201cSo I want to again thank Senator Capito for highlighting this, for shining some sunshine on this, so that we can get some changes made.\n\n\u201cWe 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.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-capito-expose-epas-reckless-spending-on-radical-groups/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6502460930496454, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}