WASHINGTON (AP) — A plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by half has been the focus of contentious congressional hearings over the future of an agency that Democrats have accused of abandoning its mission to protect the environment and public health. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will sit before a Senate committee Wednesday, the last of three budgetary hearings this week, to argue for sharply reduced funding for an agency that has already seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. He took an aggressive approach, responding to Democratic lawmakers with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the agency’s track record.…