On Earth Day, Grijalva, Duckworth, Booker, Markey, Lee, and Tlaib Unveil Bicameral Report Card Listing 100 Different Trump Administration Failures Making Americans and the Environment Sicker
Washington, D.C. – On Earth Day, Congresswoman Adelita S. Grijalva, joined by fellow Co-Chairs of the Senate and House Environmental Justice Caucuses U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and U.S. Representatives Summer Lee (D-PA-12) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12) unveiled a bicameral report card underscoring how the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” mantra is yet another broken promise to the American people.
The report card outlines one hundred different ways Donald Trump and his corrupt cabinet have rolled back environmental protections, silenced underserved communities, defunded federal programs and decimated regulatory frameworks that are essential in protecting our nation’s public health and the Earth—ultimately prioritizing polluters and profits while making millions of Americans sicker and setting the health of our environment back decades. The bicameral report card is available on Senator Duckworth’s website and will be officially unveiled by the Environmental Justice Caucus Co-Chairs at a press conference later this afternoon.
A livestream of the event will be available on Senator Duckworth’s Twitter/X, Facebook and YouTube at 3:30pm EST/12:30pm MST.
“In Southern Arizona, environmental injustice is not abstract—it’s something families live with every day, from extreme heat to unsafe air and water,” said Congresswoman Grijalva. “Rolling back clean air and water protections does not make America healthy again—it makes our communities sicker and their utility bills more unaffordable. Fast-tracking mining projects that threaten local water supplies and sacred lands only deepens that harm. This report makes clear what’s at stake: an administration willing to sacrifice public health and frontline communities to boost polluter profits. We will continue fighting to ensure every family—no matter their zip code—has access to clean air, safe water, and a healthy future.”
“Declawing the EPA, firing our public health experts, pulling out of climate agreements and eliminating programs that help more Americans breathe clean air and drink safe water is not how you ‘Make America Healthy Again’—it’s how you make America much, much sicker,” said Senator Duckworth. “Today, we’re bringing the receipts of the disgraceful and reckless actions that Trump and his Cabinet are regularly taking to sacrifice our public health and planet’s future for the sake of polluters’ profit margins, who also happen to line Republican campaign coffers. As they continue to break their promises to the American people and betray future generations, Democrats will keep doing everything we can to provide environmental justice communities with the support they need. We will always fight back against this Administration’s desire to drag our nation back decades and set our planet on fire.”
“The first Earth Day was 50 years ago, when Americans stood up across the country and demanded clean air, clean water, and a livable environment. Our bedrock environmental protections are in place because of that movement,” said Senator Booker. “The Trump Administration is gutting the progress that has been made since that first Earth Day. Firing EPA and public health workers, rolling back protections, threatening our cherished public lands, and placing the profits of polluters over the wellbeing of the people. This is an emergency with far-reaching consequences for our health, our economy, and our basic well-being. When pollution soars, it is vulnerable communities like my neighborhood in Newark that get sickest, face the heaviest burdens and the gravest challenges. This year we also mark 250 years since we declared our independence - and as we look towards the next 250, we must recommit to the fight for a beautiful, clean and safe environment for generations to come.”
“Earth Day is a time for us all to celebrate the beauty of our planet and to recognize the importance of a clean and safe environment. But this Earth Day, we must also demand accountability for the lawless, senseless actions that this administration has taken to reverse decades of progress towards a healthier future for our planet and our loved ones,” said Senator Markey. “This report card presents a stark reminder of this cruelty, but the fight to protect our landscapes, our wildlife, and our communities from this harm continues today and every day. Trump may have the Oval Office right now, but we have truth, justice, and the will for a better future on our side. In Congress, I’ll use every tool at our disposal to fight against Trump’s profit-driven, pro-polluter agenda.”
“The Trump administration has spent the past year handing polluters free passes while families in western Pennsylvania suffer from some of the worst air quality in the nation, face rising cancer rates, and watch their neighborhoods flood year after year,” said Congresswoman Lee. “As a co-founder of the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus in the House, I am committed to holding these bad actors accountable and fighting for the environmental justice we all deserve. Clean air, water, and a safe community should be a reality for everyone, not just a select few, and we will keep fighting until we achieve that.”
“Growing up in Southwest Detroit in one of Michigan’s most polluted zip codes, I thought the smell of pollution was normal,” said Congresswoman Tlaib. “I co-founded the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus because I don’t want other kids to have to grow up thinking they deserved to breathe air that smells like rotten eggs and drink water contaminated with lead and PFAS. The lawless Trump administration is fighting for the profits of corporate polluters, but we’re fighting for our lives, and we’re going to win.”
Since taking office, Rep. Grijalva has been a leading voice in Congress on environmental protection, including launching the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus alongside her colleagues.
She has consistently pushed back on mining projects that threaten local communities and violate tribal sovereignty. Her first bill in Congress, the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act, would repeal the controversial 2014 National Defense Authorization Act rider that transferred 2,422 acres of Arizona’s Tonto National Forest—including the sacred site of Oak Flat (Chi’chil Biłdagoteel)—to a foreign mining corporation.
Following a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing that land transfer to proceed, Rep. Grijalva quickly introduced new legislation to protect adjacent public lands within the Chi’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District.
Just last week, she sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz raising serious concerns about the proposed Hermosa Critical Minerals Project in Southern Arizona, after a community roundtable where residents voiced strong opposition and alarm over its potential impacts.
###