Is Leadership at EPA ‘Coming Apart at the Seams?’

One Congressman is apparently fed up with reports about the EPA administrator and wants to hold a hearing to listen to his sworn testimony on recent allegations.

That is how one Congressman described the situation at the Environmental Protection Agency in a recent letter calling for a formal hearing to get sworn testimony from the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.

Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent the letter to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) seeking the hearing, saying “Based on the events of the past week, it appears that leadership at the EPA is coming apart at the seams.”

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 and pay raises given to Pruitt’s aides.

Pruitt, however, has defended his actions, saying that the pay raises were rescinded as soon as he found out about them and he is investigating the situation further. He also said he thinks the EPA is running “at a Ted Williams level,” referring to the baseball legend who is arguably one of the greatest hitters of all time.

President Trump also defended Pruitt in a tweet he posted on Friday, saying that Pruitt “is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege…”

Cummings also said in his letter that he wants Gowdy to issue a subpoena to the EPA for failure to fully comply with a previous Committee request for documents regarding some of Pruitt’s travels. “If you decline to issue this subpoena yourself, then I request that you place this issue on the agenda for our Committee’s next business meeting so all Committee Members have the opportunity to debate and vote on this motion,” wrote Cummings.

A copy of the letter is included below.

2018-04-05 Cummings Request for Hearing on Pruitt

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.