Lee Zeldin, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, told Newsmax on Wednesday that the EPA has done the “right thing” by pulling a grant worth $20 billion from a climate fund program.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order temporarily pausing the EPA’s termination of three environmental nonprofit groups’ grant agreements. Zeldin said that he’s “confident it’s the right thing to do for the American taxpayer.”

“Canceling money before it’s not wasted before its too late, because once money gets spent — if you try to wait for some mysterious moment in the future where the money is out the door then I have to come back to Congress and the American public and explain why the money was wasted … I have to take action up front to make sure it doesn’t get wasted in the first place,” Zeldin said during an appearance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

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