The Republican chairman of the Senate environment committee is planning to hold a hearing with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt later this year, while reserving judgment about the scandals facing the Cabinet member until the conclusion of the EPA inspector general’s investigations.
Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., “has consistently said that he intends to call Administrator Pruitt back up to the committee later this year for a hearing,” spokesman Mike Danylak told the Washington Examiner. “The chairman is awaiting the findings from the EPA inspector general reviews. As with the EPW hearing in late January, members of the committee are free to raise whatever questions they choose when the administration is before the committee.”
Pruitt faced a grueling hearing before Senate appropriators in May on the budget, which quickly devolved into a hearing over the scandals he has found himself facing.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., one of Pruitt’s staunchest supporters, said Wednesday that he would be open to a hearing after saying in a radio interview that he was open to the EPA chief resigning. His office said he is not calling for Pruitt to be fired or resign, but wants to have a conversation about his recent behavior and possible ethical violations.
Barrasso is asking Senate energy appropriators to add funding for the the EPA inspector general, which is conducting more than a dozen investigations into Pruitt’s behavior.
Barrasso sent a letter to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee for Interior and Environment, to request that sufficient funding be provided to the EPA’s inspector general’s office. The letter notes that the inspector general has multiple ongoing reviews and needs money, Danylak said.
Barrasso wrote that the inspector general “has not only expanded a number of ongoing reviews, but has also initiated additional reviews concerning a wide range of allegations related to the Office of the Administrator.”
He said EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins has complained to the White House that its fiscal 2019 budget allocation of $46 million would not be enough to complete its oversight activities and respond to Congress.
Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill Thursday that targets Pruitt’s scandals. “The committee directs that none of the funds made available in this act may be used in contravention of … the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch,” the language says.
Sen. Tom Udall, the top Democrat on the environment subcommittee, said the amendment “addresses the ethics scandals plaguing this administration,” according to CNBC.
“I am appalled at the number of scandals piling up — especially at the EPA,” he said. “Frankly, it’s hard to even keep track.”
