Oversight of the Administration

As the growing number of investigations into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s misconduct makes the President’s ongoing decision not to fire him look more ridiculous by the day, Pruitt last week found new ways to disgrace his public office: AP: “Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building. When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA public-affairs pers... Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s directive to the Department of Energy to order grid operators to purchase power from coal and nuclear power plants, without credible justification for such an act: “Today Donald Trump is ginning up a fake grid emergency to bail out donors in the coal industry, while ignoring a real grid emergency that has killed thou... Read more »

Think Progress Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has spent $3.5 million in taxpayer dollars on personal security in just his first year in the position, CBS News revealed Friday. This is far more than his two predecessors from the Obama administration, who CBS News says spent between $1.6 to $2 million annually on security. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox defended the spe... Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today led a group of five House Democratic leaders requesting information from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) about Pruitt’s legal defense fund. Pruitt confirmed the existence of the fund to Senators in a hearing last week, but key details have not yet been made public or provided to Congress, which potentially raises a series of e... Read more »

The Hill House Democrats on Thursday sent letters to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting information on a legal defense fund set up by Pruitt to defend himself in the midst of multiple scandals. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and a group of five other Democratic ... Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on reports that Jared Kushner had been granted a permanent security clearance: “Today the White House and Jared Kushner’s representatives are saying that the decision to grant Mr. Kushner’s clearance was made by career personnel, and that this decision was the deserved outcome of an above-board process. Both claims are false or misleading. The su... Read more »

Scott Pruitt today admitted in a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to violating federal regulations when he accepted the services of his direct subordinate, Millan Hupp, without paying her [exchange here]. Hupp assisted Pruitt in his housing search last year, Pruitt confirmed, without pay, a violation of the Code of Federal Regulations (administrative law governing federal employees, laid... Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar’s testimony that he does not “see the premium effect” of the Trump Administration’s efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act: “This comment by Secretary Azar represents the abysmal apathy the Trump Administration shows when it comes to Americans’ healthcare costs,” said Rep. Beyer. “Vir... Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s “Back to Basics” memo instructing the EPA to begin factoring “economic effects” into its decisions on setting clean air standards: “Scott Pruitt’s latest attempt to undermine air pollution standards set by the Clean Air Act is illegal and immoral. The only ‘basics’ that his actions would take us ‘back to’ are t... Read more »

Today, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Judiciary, and Reps. Zoe Lofgren ... Read more »