Environment Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt went around White House objections to give two of his aides significant raises, according to a report Tuesday.
Sarah Greenwalt, 30, and Millan Hupp, 26, both followed Pruitt from the Oklahoma attorney general’s office after he was appointed as EPA administrator. In March, Pruitt asked the White House to raise Greenwalt’s salary from $107,435 to $164,200, and asked that Hupp’s be raised from $86,460 to $114,590.
An anonymous source with knowledge of a meeting regarding the salary increases told the Atlantic that the Presidential Personnel Office rejected Pruitt’s request.
According to the outlet, Pruitt then used part of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which allowed him to hire up to 30 people without congressional approval, to give the aides their raises. Previously the provision, which became law in 1996, was used to quickly hire specialists and position them in overly worked offices, Bob Perciasepe, former EPA administrator, told the Atlantic.
Pruitt reappointed Greenwalt and Hupp using the Act, allowing him to raise their salaries at his convenience. Although neither of the aides duties changed, they were issued raises of $56,765 and $28,130, respectively.
“This whole thing has completely gutted any morale I had left to put up with this place,” one anonymous EPA official told the Atlantic.
The EPA did not return the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
