Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee suspended the rules on Thursday in order to approve President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency after Democrats boycotted the meeting.
Committee rules required a quorum to be present in order to do any committee business, which required at least one Democrat to be present. But in light of an ongoing Democratic boycott of several committees, Republicans changed the rules, and unanimously confirmed the nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, in an 11-0 vote.
“We will not allow [Democrats] to obstruct,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “It is unprecedented for the minority … to obstruct to this extent.”
Republicans on Wednesday railed against the Democrats’ attempt to stall the vote on Pruitt’s nomination, saying he did not adequately answer questions he put to him in writing in the two weeks since his first confirmation hearing.
Democrats see Pruitt as an affront to the EPA’s environmental protection mandate, especially when it comes to confronting the growing threat of climate change. Pruitt is a top litigant in a major lawsuit opposing the agency’s climate regulations.
Pruitt will now move on to face the full Senate to approve his nomination.
