The Senate’s top Republican on the environment is taking Democrats to task for working to delay the confirmation process for President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., complained in a letter to all members of the panel over Democrats sending their own questionnaires to President-elect Trump’s EPA nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. The Democrats say Pruitt has to answer all questions from all questionnaires before he is allowed to be brought before the committee at a hearing, but Barrasso said he’s fully in charge of the committee.
“The authority to schedule hearings rests within the sole discretion of the chairman,” Barrasso wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. “There is no requirement for the committee to formally receive a nomination before holding a hearing.”
Barrasso’s letter is a reminder about proper procedure and says that much of what they say is incorrect and breaks with years of precedent under the Obama administration.
“Please note that the [environment committee] does not require nominees to respond to questions in advance of a hearing,” the letter added. “While in the past both Republican and Democrat members of the committee have submitted questions to nominees before a nomination hearing, questions submitted by an individual member of the committee are not formal requests from the committee.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen, Tom Carper, of Delaware, insisted Tuesday that there will be no hearing until Pruitt answers all the Democrats’ questions. “We would certainly want to have responses to the seven pages of questions,” Carper told reporters outside of Senate caucus meetings.
“We want to have the opportunity to review those questions and maybe ask some follow-up questions to them if the responses are not comprehensive,” he added. Carper also said the Democrats want “to have a chance to drill down on the FBI review of this nominee, as we would for any other nominee.”
The Barrasso letter said two things must be completed before a hearing can take place: a committee questionnaire, which has not changed since the last Congress, and a copy of his financial disclosure form from the Office of Government Ethics. The ethics review was completed for Pruitt on Monday evening. He is clear for confirmation.
“The timing and transmittal of questions for the record and the deadline for responses also lies with the discretion of the chairman,” the letter added. In previous hearings members were asked to submit their questions to the nominee on the same day as the hearing.
The letter also reminded Democrats that the committee can approve a nomination without a hearing. “I do not plan to do so except with the concurrence of the ranking member and unless the committee has received the documents itemized.”
It also reminded Democrats that Lisa Jackson, President Obama’s first EPA administrator, came before Congress before the inauguration and was in office before the end of January. It was the same for the EPA administrators for former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the letter said. Barrasso said he wants to do the same for the president-elect.
A formal hearing date has not been set by the committee, but lobbyists and observers suggest it will likely fall on Jan. 18.
