Senator Mitch McConnell recently brushed off backlash from Republicans’ Medicaid cuts, telling his colleagues that constituents would “get over it.” The recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” could strip health benefits from up to 17 million Americans—no small thing to “get over.”

But another Trump administration effort stands to harm the health of America’s entire population – all 347 million Americans – and their future children and grandchildren. The administration has to proposed to revoke the two foundational pillars of United States climate policy: the Endangerment Finding, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific determination that climate pollution endangers public health and welfare, and the Clean Car and Truck Standards, which will cut air pollution from transportation while saving American consumers hundreds of billions in fuel costs.

Does the administration expect the entire nation to “get over” that too? I fear most Americans don’t fully understand the consequences of those two pillars being torn down.

Science and Law Under Attack

I served in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for over three decades, beginning in the Reagan administration. Despite ideological shifts, one principle endured: policy was grounded in science and the law. That principal is now at grave risk.

The Endangerment Finding emerged from the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” and that the EPA must regulate them if they endanger public health or the environment. After an exhaustive, peer-reviewed scientific process, EPA confirmed that danger in its 2009 Endangerment Finding. Every legal challenge to this finding has failed—including rulings by the D.C. Circuit Court in 2012 and 2023.

EPA Administrator Zeldin now questions the science behind the Endangerment Finding and wants to revoke it. To revoke it, the EPA would need to provide new scientific evidence showing greenhouse gas pollution is not a danger. No such evidence exists. In fact, the science has only grown stronger.

The United States is warming faster than the global average. Climate-linked disasters have become more frequent, more severe, and more expensive—hurricanes that wipe out towns in North Carolina, floods that kill hundreds in Texas, wildfires that turn homes into ashes. The cumulative cost of these escalating disasters since 1980 is a staggering $2.9 trillion. Americans are paying dearly—through higher insurance premiums, damaged infrastructure, destroyed communities, and the nearly 17,000 lives lost.

The Clean Car Success Story at Risk

I led the team that developed the EPA’s first national vehicle greenhouse gas standards in 2010. I stood at the White House, as the auto manufacturers that my office worked hand in hand with, joined President Obama to support these rules. It was unprecedented: An entire industry agreed that policies to clean our air could drive innovation, create jobs, and save consumers money.

The results speak for themselves. The most recent Clean Car and Truck Standards finalized under President Biden is estimated to deliver net benefits up to $1.6 trillion, prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths per year, and save consumers an average of $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs per vehicle.

These savings far outweigh any increase in upfront vehicle costs—at roughly a 4-to-1 benefit-to-cost ratio. The standards, combined with the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022, have created over 200,000 new jobs and spurred ~$130 billion in new US investments in electric vehicle(EV) and battery manufacturing in the past five years.

Administrator Zeldin claim that these standards amount to a hidden tax for US families. That is false. It is repealing these standards that will burden Americans—with higher fuel bills, rising insurance costs, dirty air, and climate-driven economic shocks. Without these rules, we’ll burn many more gallons of oil, and cost the consumer as much as $890 billion more at the pump.

While U.S. retreats, China and Europe are racing ahead. China already dominates the global EV market, accounting for over 60% and is expanding exports to key markets, including Europe, South America, and Mexico. The European Union continues tightening vehicle standards with EVs now accounting for 23% of new car sales compared to just 11% in the U.S.

We’re walking away from a global clean transportation market close to $10 trillion in 2025. Repealing these standards doesn’t just raise emissions and fuel costs—it also cedes American leadership in a critical 21st-century industry.

Real-World Consequences

Rolling back these protections will have devastating human and economic costs. There will be more childhood asthma attacks, more heart disease, and more lives lost too early. Instead of providing economic relief, repeals would force American families to not only pay a hidden tax in higher fuel costs, but also in higher health costs, prohibitive insurance premiums, and expensive disaster-related expenses.

IRA repeal alone could cost up to 130,000 net direct jobs across the U.S. EV industry by 2030, with potentially 440,000 total jobs lost when considering indirect effects. The automotive sector has invested hundreds of billions in U.S. engineering and manufacturing based on current policies – those investments are now largely in jeopardy. Without stable rules, American workers will be left behind, while competitors like China and the EU surge ahead.

And perhaps most dangerously, repealing science-based policy on the grounds of unfounded legal claims and mischaracterized science sends a chilling message: that political expedience now overrides public health, environmental protection, and legal precedent.

America Can’t Afford to Walk Away

The EPA’s mission has not wavered since its founding 55 years ago: to protect public health and the environment. Its own analysis shows that the policies now under threat deliver hundreds of billions in net benefits and position the U.S. for long-term leadership.

The science is clear. The legal foundation is sound. And the economic evidence is overwhelming. Repealing the Endangerment Finding and the Clean Car and Truck Standards would be more than regulatory backsliding—it would be a fundamental betrayal of the agency’s duty to the American people.

No, we can’t “get over” this action. Because our children deserve clean air, our workers deserve 21st-century jobs, and our planet can’t afford anything less than American leadership.