In a year with record-setting fires in the West and historic hurricane numbers in the East, climate change is top of mind for many people.
For just the second time in history, Atlantic storms are being named using the Greek alphabet after surpassing the annual list of names.
"As far as the hurricanes, there's a lot of scientific debate on the hurricanes," Andrew R. Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, claimed today on Cheddar's Opening Bell.
Meanwhile, leaders in Western states have been raising concerns about climate change once again as devastating and deadly fires consume more land than ever before. Those leaders pressed President Trump on the issue last week after the administration blamed forest management for the fires. At the time, the president claimed that "it will get cooler soon."
Wheeler told Cheddar he does believe in climate change and humanity's contribution.
But Wheeler doubled-down on the administration's claims that forest management was behind California's increasingly destructive fires. "I do believe most of it is forest management issues because you don't have the same problems in other parts of the country," Wheeler said.
This week a group of former leaders of the EPA endorsed Joe Biden. The group was made up of EPA leaders who served under Democratic and Republican administrations. Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor from New Jersey who ran the EPA under President George W. Bush, reiterated her stance Monday that the current administration was running a war against science.
Wheeler hit back today on Cheddar. "Yesterday's announcement was just pure politics," he said. "They had no facts to back up their statement."
Wheeler touted the agency's record on regulation enforcement and said he is "very proud of the fact that we have doubled the amount of both civil and criminal penalties by the Obama-Biden administration during the same time period." He went on to say the agency's foremost responsibility now is to enforce existing regulations as more and more environmental programs are delegated to the states.
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. to stop minting pennies. His surprise announcement comes after decades of unsuccessful efforts to phase out the 1-cent coin. Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost and limited utility. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel. Here's a look at some question surrounding Trump's order.
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Brian Bennett, Senior White House correspondent at TIME, discusses Musk's relationship to Donald Trump and how he has such access in the federal government.
MarketWatch's Rob Schroeder helps us break down what is happening with tariffs implemented by the Trump admin., plus what Canada and Mexico have promised.
Jen Judson, Reporter at Military Times, breaks down what we know about the fatal commercial airline crash in D.C. and the ongoing investigation into its cause.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, discusses the lawsuits filed against DOGE and explains Public Citizen's approach to efficiency in U.S. spending
Jennifer Mattson, Contributing Writer at Fast Company, discusses the impact of Trump's first weekend in office and what's to come from the administration.
