What We Do
The Office of Congressional Affairs is the EPA’s primary contact for Congressional Committees, Leadership, Members and staff. The office is responsible for all matters pertaining to congressional inquiries and oversight of EPA activities. The Office of Congressional Affairs serves to:
• Lead EPA in the development, review and implementation of legislation; coordinate EPA's formal positions and technical assistance to Congress; and monitor all relevant legislative actions related to EPA programs.
• Coordinate the appearance of EPA witnesses at congressional hearings and manage the associated testimony.
• Manage the clearance of legislative proposals, post-hearing questions for the record, statutory reports and other Congressional correspondence in coordination with OMB.
• Coordinate the EPA's responses to congressional committee oversight requests and other inquiries from individual Members and congressional staff.
• Notify Congress of the EPA's grant awards.
These functions are important to the EPA’s cooperative and productive relationship with Congress.
Office of Congressional Affairs Staff
Tristan Brown, Deputy Associate Administrator
Air Staff
Vacant, Supervisory Program Analyst for Air Staff
Clean Air, Radiation, and Climate Change Issues.
Water, Pesticides and Toxics Staff
Sven-Erik Kaiser, Supervisory Program Analyst for Water , Pesticides and Toxic Staff
Clean Water, Drinking Water, Estuaries, Coastal Protection, Pesticides, Chemicals and Pollution Prevention Issues.
Waste and Enforcement Team
Carolyn Levine, Supervisory Program Analyst for Waste and Enforcement Staff
Superfund, Waste, Recycling, Brownfields, Environmental Justice, Emergency Responses, and Agency-wide Enforcement Issues.
Appropriations, Research and Crosscutting Staff
Christina Moody, Supervisory Program Analyst for Appropriations, Research and Crosscutting Staff
Appropriations, Budget, Agency-wide Research, Children's Health, and other Interagency coordination and clearances.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Listed below are some of the most common questions that are asked about Congressional transcripts and testimony statements in the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Answers to the following questions will give the public community a broader view of how business is conducted and what information is made available to the private and public sectors.
QUESTION:
How can I obtain a copy of a transcript after a Congressional Hearing?
ANSWER:
Transcripts are made available only to EPA Officials within the agency who are responsible for making editorial comments to their testimony statement. The Official Record of the transcript will be printed as a part of the appropriate Congressional Hearings.
QUESTION:
What is the difference between a Congressional Transcript and Testimony Statement?
ANSWER:
A Congressional Transcript is a verbatim statement of the agency Witness given before a House or Senate Congressional Committee. The transcript is available only to the witness or to the program office within the Agency. After the transcript is edited for clarification and the Agency witness responds to follow up questions and all requests answered in the transcript, it is returned to the appropriate Committee for printing, and then it is released for the public. A Testimony Statement is a prepared statement of the EPA Witness which is available to the public. See OCIR Testimony Page.
QUESTION:
Is there a Central Office where the public can obtain testimony statements?
ANSWER:
Yes. Copies are available in The Legislative Hearings and Transcript Unit in the Information Management Division within the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations.
QUESTION:
Where can I get a listing of current hearings held of all EPA hearings, and, is there a distribution list of past hearings held?
ANSWER:
Yes. The Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations has a Web site for "EPA Legislative Hearings and Testimony (page 3)," where you will find current and past hearings held, as well as EPA Annual Hearing Reports and a Status Report of current hearings recently held.
