Rep. Elijah Cummings said Thursday that the Trump administration is imposing illegal “gag orders” on the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal departments by making it harder for them to communicate with Congress.

“It has been widely reported that the Trump administration has issued restrictions at multiple agencies on employee communications including, in some cases, communications with Congress,” said a letter from the Maryland Democrat, who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone of Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to White House counsel Donald McGahn. “These directives appear to violate a host of federal laws.”