DEMS’ LETTER CALLS PRUITT SECURITY INTO QUESTION: The controversies over Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt showed no signs of easing Tuesday, with Democrats putting a new focus on his security costs and practices.
Democratic Sens. Tom Carper (Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) came out with a letter detailing documents they obtained that, they argue, undercut the EPA’s arguments for why Pruitt needs a 24/7 security detail, first-class flights and more.
The EPA has argued that Pruitt has faced “unprecedented” threats, and the agency “has identified specific, ongoing threats associated with the administrator’s air travel.”
“These assertions do not appear to be consistent with the non-public EPA documents we have obtained,” they wrote.
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Carper and Whitehouse said the agency’s Office of Homeland Security Intelligence Team found that Pruitt’s security detail “has not identified any specific credible direct threat to the EPA administrator.”
EPA had also requested a pair of Secret Service reports, neither of which found “reports of behaviors of interest directed toward EPA Administrator Pruitt,” the lawmakers added.
“It is hard to reconcile the public statements of EPA, and the President, with these internal and external assessments,” the Democrats wrote.
Carper is the Environment and Public Works Committee’s top Democrat, and Whitehouse is a senior member. Their letter was a request to committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to hold hearings on the security matter.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox defended Pruitt’s practices.
“Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him and these threat assessments are conducted within [Office of Enforcement] using information collected from the [security detail], EPA’s Office of Homeland Security, and Inspector General. Americans should all agree that members of the president’s cabinet should be kept safe from these violent threats,” Wilcox said in a statement.
Why it matters: Democrats have been very cautious about questioning Pruitt’s security practices.
They don’t want to endanger him, and have rarely called into question the assertions from EPA officials — both security professionals and others — regarding Pruitt’s needs. This is important, as reports find that the security team comes at a huge cost to taxpayers. The Associated Press reported last week that it has cost nearly $3 million in the past year.
Instead, Democrats have focused on other controversies, like his travel spending, his soundproof booth and raises to aides.
But the documents that Carper and Whitehouse obtained give them a way to start scrutinizing Pruitt’s security costs.
Whitehouse also recently sent a letter questioning Pruitt for taking his security detail on personal trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl Game.
EPA staffer fired after writing critical Pruitt memo: The EPA removed the career employee Tuesday who signed off on the internal report that the two Senate Democrats cited in their letter to Barrasso. The report, found that there were not significant security threats facing Scott Pruitt, Politico reported.
Mario Caraballo was the deputy associate administrator of the EPA’s Office of Homeland Security.
His office wrote a report earlier in the year evaluating a memo by Pruitt’s security detail that reported various apparent threats against him to justify his need for 24-hour security and first-class flying.
A source told Politico that the EPA justified firing Caraballo by citing an issue from his military service years ago that had been resolved and reviewed by the EPA, but that agency leaders were unhappy with Caraballo’s report.
Read more here.
Democrats react to EPA staffer’s firing: Responding to the news of Caraballo’s firing, Carper and Whitehouse’s released a joint statement calling the news “deeply troubling.”
“The timing of Mr. Caraballo’s firing is deeply troubling. This development underscores the need for the Environment and Public Works Committee to conduct effective oversight of the EPA to answer the serious questions that have come to light in recent days concerning management and ethical conduct by the Administrator and his staff,” the statement read.
House Dems call for Pruitt to step down: The ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the three ranking members for its subcommittees called for Pruitt to resign Tuesday. The four Democrats cited five separate investigations into Pruitt’s use of taxpayer money and ethics for their decision to ask the administrator to step down.
“EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has become the poster child for the Trump Administration’s shameful culture of corruption. Pruitt has repeatedly used his position to enrich himself rather than protect the lives of the American people he was appointed to serve,” their statement Tuesday read. “His actions have jeopardized EPA’s ability to protect human health and the environment, and the only way to regain the American people’s trust in EPA is for Pruitt to resign immediately.”
Read the statement.
SENATE GOP ISN’T RUSHING TO INVESTIGATE PRUITT: Republican Senators are pushing back on calls to investigate Pruitt.
Key Republicans overseeing the EPA and its budget are resisting calls from Democrats and environmentalists to open new investigations or hold hearings on a number of recent scandals connected to Pruitt.
Instead, Republicans are deferring to the White House, which is investigating various allegations against Pruitt.
Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he is letting the White House take the lead.
“Certain questions have been raised about internal operations of the agency and the administrator’s actions,” he said Monday. “The White House has indicated it has taken on a formal review of these questions. I will wait for the outcome of that process.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who sits on the EPW committee, said he is comfortable letting the White House’s investigation play out.
“Under EPW, we have oversight on the agency, and once we find out what the White House comes up with in terms of their investigation, then we can decide whether or not it’s something that gets into the operations of the EPA,” Rounds said. “At this point, we’ll wait until the White House finishes their review.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who chairs the Appropriations Committee subpanel that oversees the EPA’s budget, recognized that the controversies could be hurting the EPA.
“If there are questions that are coming up that are detracting you from the responsibilities that you have, those can be issues, yeah. Those can be real concerns,” she said.
PRUITT CHIEF TAKES BLAME FOR RAISES: Ryan Jackson, Pruitt’s chief of staff, has come out to take blame for two controversial raises given to close Pruitt aides.
“Administrator Pruitt had zero knowledge of the amount of the raises, nor the process by which they transpired. These kind of personnel actions are handled by EPA’s HR officials, [Presidential Personnel Office] and me,” Jackson said in a statement.
Jackson said he gave the raises to Sarah Greenwalt and Millan Hupp because they were being paid less than their peers with similar responsibilities.
Jackson’s statement, first reported by The Atlantic, came in response to a Monday report in the magazine that an internal EPA email from Greenwalt stated that Pruitt personally approved of her raise.
POMPEO FACES CLIMATE CRITICISM: More than 200 environmental advocacy groups are asking the Senate to reject President Trump’s nomination of Mike Pompeo for secretary of State due to his climate views.
In a letter dated Tuesday, national and state groups including Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace and 350.org call the former GOP congressman from Kansas and current CIA director a “climate denier” and urge senators to reject his nomination.
“At a time when our planet is rapidly warming and millions are being impacted by climate change supercharged hurricanes, fires, drought, mudslides, and more, the last thing we need is another climate denier in the White House administration; his nomination must be rejected,” the letter reads.
“Any Senator who votes in support of his nomination to the important position of Secretary of State is complicit in advancing the Trump/Pompeo pro-fossil fuel, anti-climate agenda.”
Read more here.
DEMS SEEK TO STOP PRUITT FROM ROLLING BACK CAR RULES: Six Senate Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday to stop the EPA from rolling back greenhouse gas standards for cars.
The legislation would overturn Pruitt’s determination last week that the standards for model years 2022 through 2025 are inappropriate and should be revised. It would also stop Pruitt from changing them.
In true Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) fashion, the bill’s name is the Greener Air Standards Mean Our National Security, Environment, and Youth (GAS MONEY) Saved Act.
What Scott Pruitt is doing on these standards is a fuel economy disaster,” Markey said in a statement.
“We must block any attempt by the Trump administration and Scott Pruitt to rescind California’s waiver or attack the authority that California and other states like Massachusetts have under the Clean Air Act to put strong standards in place. The GAS MONEY Saved Act will put the brakes on any attempt to gut these standards and keep us on course to reap their benefits.”
Joining Markey on the bill are Sens. Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).
ON TAP WEDNESDAY: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is coming back to Capitol Hill. He’s due to testify in front of the House Appropriations Committee’s subpanel with jurisdiction over his agency, to discuss its fiscal 2019 budget request.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight subcommittee will hold a hearing on the recovery of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid.
The House Natural Resources Committee will meet to vote on five bills.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act, meant to boost carbon capture and utilization.
The House Natural Resources Committee’s federal land subcommittee will hold a hearing on four bills in its jurisdiction.
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:
Oil and gas company Devon Energy Corp. said Tuesday it’s laying off 300 employees, or about 9 percent of its workforce, the Tulsa World reports. ]
Recall that Pruitt, as Oklahoma’s attorney general, almost word-for-word used a letter that Devon wrote when he submitted comments to the EPA on methane regulations.
Volkswagen AG, still reeling from its diesel emissions scandal, is pushing out CEO Herbert Diess, CNBC reports.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Qatar are in talks for a deal that could see the country investing in Exxon’s United States shale resources, the Wall Street Journal reports.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out Tuesday’s stories …
-GOP senators push back on calls to investigate Pruitt
-EPA removes staffer whose report questioned Pruitt’s security needs: report
-GOP senator blasts Dems for releasing ‘sensitive’ EPA documents on Pruitt security
-Green groups urge Senate to reject Pompeo nomination
-EPA records question need for Pruitt’s 24/7 security, senators say
-Pruitt’s chief of staff takes responsibility for controversial raises