Pumping iron

AMONG the departments that could be affected by Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts is the Environmental Protection Agency. Listening to austerity critics, one might assume that every dollar spent by the agency is directed toward saving babies from corporate polluters. But a report last week reveals otherwise. A group known as Americans for Tax Reform released receipts showing that an EPA office on the UNLV campus spent upward of $15,000 for one-year gym memberships for 37 agency employees.

Tellingly, the agency chose to buy the pricey memberships instead of directing employees to work out at the gym they are already allowed to use on the university campus.

The EPA’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt, said on “Fox and Friends” last week that he had ended the practice. He blamed the previous administration for approving such expenditures.

Why would EPA officials charge taxpayers for gym memberships its employees didn’t need? Because usually, nobody is paying attention.

Working out is great. Eliminating government waste is worthy exercise, too.