Maryland’s freshman senator was in the spotlight Thursday as she had a chance to question some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat and the first Black senator to represent Maryland, participated in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s confirmation hearing for Scott Turner, Trump’s pick for housing secretary. She also questioned Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, as a Senate Environment & Public Works Committee member.

Alsobrooks focused on the Chesapeake Bay, the risks of lead in drinking water, and how the Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to lay off 75% of federal workers would impact the EPA.

Maryland is home to about 143,000 federal workers.

In a round of yes-or-no questions, Alsobrooks asked Zeldin — a former New York congressman — multiple questions about the Chesapeake Bay, which she described as an economic driver in Maryland, one of the most productive fisheries and the nation’s largest estuary.

Zeldin said he agreed that protecting the nation’s estuaries and watersheds is a shared responsibility between the states and federal government and that he would advocate for restoration efforts across the country.

However, Zeldin noted that it will ultimately be up to Congress to decide funding levels. “It will be my obligation to make sure that money is spent to Congress’ intent,” he said.

Alsobrooks pointed out that Zeldin, as a member of Congress, voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law, which invested in replacing lead pipes that contaminate drinking water. She asked if he recognized lead in water is a problem and whether he would cut funding to aid in the replacement of lead pipes.

The EPA under the Biden administration in October issued a new federal rule for all lead pipes to be replaced within 10 years, impacting water utilities in Maryland and across the country.

Zeldin agreed lead in water is a problem and said his job as EPA administrator wouldn’t be to cut funding. His job would be to carry out funding levels set by Congress.

“I am committed to fulfill my obligation of being a good steward of the tax dollars and spend to Congress’ intent,” he said.

Alsobrooks then asked about some plans pushed by DOGE, the unofficial government agency led by tech mogul Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

In a joint op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in November, Musk and Ramaswamy said DOGE would cut federal regulations, which would lead to fewer federal workers. The duo, who are unelected advisors to Trump, also want to end federal employees working from home.

“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provide[s] sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy. DOGE intends to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions,” they said.

Alsobrooks said in the hearing that 12,000 EPA workers would be laid off, “and many of these are hard-working, dedicated public servants who live in Maryland.”

She asked Zeldin if he supports firing 75% of EPA employees.

“Senator, offhand, I’m not even aware of a single person being fired during the first Trump administration at the EPA … There might have been someone I’m just, you know, I haven’t been told about it,” Zeldin said. “I want to make sure that my job as EPA administrator is to increase productivity, is to make sure that we are efficient and accountable and transparent.”

Alsobrooks also asked Zeldin if he would support or oppose removing EPA headquarters from Washington, D.C.

“No one has expressed to me in any setting, since I was announced as nominee or before that, of any plans with regards to moving the EPA headquarters out of D.C.,” Zeldin said. “I have not been involved in any conversation. I’m not aware of any conversation.”

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