Lawmakers introduce bill to end EPA

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) gets a "fist bump" from fellow member of the House of Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after Ryan was re-elected January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Gaetz submitted a bill to the Committee on Natural Resources that would seek to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of 2018. less Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) gets a "fist bump" from fellow member of the House of Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after Ryan was re-elected January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Gaetz submitted a bill ... more Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Lawmakers introduce bill to end EPA 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

The Environmental Protection Agency has come under constant fire from the Trump administration, enduring both a temporary gag order — which was later partially lifted — and news that President Trump was looking to cut the agency's budget and staff.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced HR 861 Friday to get rid of the agency altogether. Although details of the bill weren't immediately available, Gaetz said his bill to terminate the agency was meant to leave it to local governments "to protect their environmental assets in the absence of federal overreach."

"They have exceeded their original mission substantially under both Republican and Democratic presidents and violated the sovereignty of the states," Gaetz told the Northwest Florida Daily News. "I think we need to start fresh."

Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick for EPA administrator, passed a Senate committee vote on Thursday and will head to the senate floor. Pruitt is considered a controversial pick for the position, given that he has questioned climate science, is considered an ally to the fossil fuel industry and has sued the EPA as attorney general in the past.

Pruitt is expected to scale back the agency in the likelihood that he becomes EPA administrator, and Myron Ebell echoed those sentiments in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

Ebell, who was charged with transitioning the EPA between administrations, said that he would like to cut the agency's staff by about half — as a start.

"Undoubtedly the federal government has been staffed with scientists who believe the global-warming alarmist agenda," Ebell told the AP.

The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Rep. Seven Palazzo (R-Miss.) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.). In an email obtained by the Huffington Post, Gaetz sought co-sponsors for the bill and wrote that "it is time to take back our legislative power from the EPA and abolish it permanently."

"As conservatives, we must understand that states and local communities are best positioned to responsibly regulate the environmental assets within their jurisdictions," Gaetz said in his email. "This legislation abolishes the EPA effective December 31, 2018, to allow our state and local government partners to implement responsible policies in the interim."