President-elect Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency may have set a new record for the length of time spent answering questions at a confirmation hearing, thanks to Democrats’ protests for more time to prod the nominee.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, in trying to discourage Democrats, pointed out that moving to a fourth round of questions for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt would be unprecedented.
The former record holders went three rounds with former President George W. Bush’s pick of Christine Todd Whitman to head the EPA and for President Obama’s nomination of Gina McCarthy, he noted.
However, Pruitt’s time before the committee may be one for the history books in terms of the number of questions asked. “We have more than double the amount of questions,” compared to McCarthy’s confirmation hearing, Barrasso said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, were not discouraged and pressed for more time to ask questions.
“Please don’t take it as a criticism of your fairness. You have been fair,” said Whitehouse, but he noted that in negotiations over the length of the hearing the Democrats were promised an unlimited number of rounds of questions.
“One more round, and we’ll call it a day,” Carper insisted, noting that promises were made when it came to answering all of the Democrats’ questions.
Barrasso pushed back: “We’ve done more than ever done in last 16 years.” He noted that Pruitt had been before the committee since 10 a.m. and it was 4:30 p.m. when Democrats began asking for more time.
“We can come back for three-minute rounds, but I prefer not,” he said. “But we will not bring back the committee and go into the night.”
Former committee chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla, said “there is always an effort by those … to try to make it continue on and on.” He recommended stopping the hearing “and go on to vote” on Pruitt’s nomination.
Barrasso said no vote had been scheduled for Thursday, which forced the chairman to cave in to Carper’s request.
Carper used the extra time to prod Pruitt for appearing to ignore his list of 50 questions that he sent the nominee earlier in the month to answer ahead of the hearing.
Carper had attempted last week to stall the hearing until all the questions were answered, but Barrasso sent out a letter clarifying that the chairman decides the hearing schedule and the list of questions that must be answered.
Carper told Pruitt that “as of today” none of his questions that he sent had been answered. “We need your answers. And we need good answers,” he told Pruitt.
Pruitt said he “tried” to answer, but was respecting the protocol set by the chairman, which dictates that the questions would be answered after the hearing.
Carper said he will expect answers to all “50 or so questions,” which are “not going to be multiple choice.”
