“The American taxpayers — they put President [Donald] Trump in office because of people like you. They have Republicans in charge of the House and Senate because of people like you, because you don’t care about 99% of this story," blasted Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin recently during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.

Zeldin was responding to Senate Democrats who were objecting to the Trump administration’s efforts to clean up government waste, fraud, and abuse. Democrats like Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who, without evidence, accused the Trump administration of lying.

Following a back-and-forth between Whitehouse and Zeldin over claims that the Trump EPA was uncritically shutting down spending on grants and projects, Zeldin had finally had enough. He told Whitehouse, "You don’t want me to go through the list of all the evidence of waste and abuse. You don’t care about conflicts of interest. You don’t care about unqualified recipients.”

And that is precisely the issue. Democrats don’t like the fact that Donald Trump is committed to cleaning up Washington’s wasteful and fraud-riddled spending system.

During the final days of the Biden administration, an EPA special adviser likened the agency’s efforts to shovel out billions of taxpayer dollars toward special interest environmentalists and green energy groups as throwing “gold bars” off the Titanic. Zeldin took note of this waste and promised to find these “gold bars.”

But where did these “gold bars” of taxpayer dollars originate? The answer is the Democrats’ Green New Deal. That crazy, massive green pipe dream never came to full fruition, but significant elements of it were included in the dubiously named Inflation Reduction Act, which Joe Biden signed into law on August 16, 2022.

Upon signing the IRA, Biden ironically declared it was “one of the most significant laws in our history.” He added, “The American people won and the special interests lost." Talk about gaslighting.

In truth, the IRA has become one of the biggest boondoggles for special interests that has ever been signed into law. As noted above, the special interest is the green energy industry, which can’t seem to stand on its own footing without gobs of tax breaks and taxpayer funding.

The IRA boondoggle was designed to dupe the American public into believing it was a massive investment in America’s future to justify its colossal $1.85 trillion price tag. The IRA included nearly $400 billion in "investment” in green initiatives, with the promise that this would not only help “save the planet” but also lead to an eventual return with a cost-saving, green-energy-powered future.

However, as Zeldin noted, the truth is that much of this taxpayer funding has instead gone to support the green grift, which in turn greases the palms of politicians who keep it going.

This explains the clash between Zeldin and Democrat senators.

Indeed, one of the more telling exchanges was that with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, who repeatedly demanded that Zeldin provide a list of examples of “waste, fraud, and abuse” he had uncovered. “Are you willing to admit here today, Mr. Administrator, that you don’t have any evidence of waste, fraud, and abuse?” Markey pressed.

Yet when Zeldin responded that he’d be “happy to go through the list,” Markey cut him off. Zeldin responded, “You want to declare there’s no evidence, but you don’t want me to go through the list.”

Following the hearing, Zeldin posted a video of his exchange with Markey on X, writing, “Never anything but malarkey from the mouth of Ed Markey. The American public is DONE with this double talk, dishonest hackery from these Congressional Democrats.”

What is so frustrating to a majority of Americans is that our government has accrued a massive $37 trillion debt due to reckless overspending. Part of the problem is tied to special interest grift. And the green grift has become one of the biggest thanks to Biden’s IRA.

Not only has it raised the cost of energy for Americans, but it has also lined the pockets of those groups engaged in the grift. A number of Democrat-run states have passed legislation mandating that an increasing percentage of energy be sourced via renewables, such as solar and wind energy. Yet after years of costly developments and installations of this green tech, it still only accounts for a small percentage of energy production, and it’s unreliable, to boot.

Green energy is the proverbial lipstick on a pig. It’s a massive waste of Americans’ tax dollars for a far costlier and less reliable energy-producing industry.

This green grift needs to end. If even a single cent more of taxpayer funding went to this grift, it would be too much. If green energy is truly the future, it will not need government handouts.