The Trump administration halted funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), except for health and safety requests, despite a continuing resolution passed by Congress in March to fund the federal government at 2024 levels through September 2025.
ORD employs nearly 1,500 people and is the EPA’s main science division. On May 2, EPA director Lee Zeldin announced plans to move ORD employees directly into program offices. This contradicted statements Administrator Zeldin had previously made to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, in which he indicated that there would not be significant changes to the ORD labs.