Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, or EPW, suspended their own rules and norms in order to force through the confirmation of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. Pruitt’s record shows that he is a danger to public health and the environment. Danielle Baussan, Managing Director of Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
By voting to ignore their own rules and ram Scott Pruitt’s nomination through committee, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ignored numerous voices raising concerns about his fitness for the job, from public health professionals to good government groups to Oklahomans who are all too familiar with his track record at home. Pruitt has made a career of suing the EPA to block the agency’s efforts to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink and to hold oil and gas companies accountable for their pollution. It defies common sense that he could run the agency whose mission he has spent years trying to undermine. One need only look at the polluters who have lined his campaign coffers in the past—and who are lining up to support his nomination now—to understand where his priorities would be as administrator. He would be just one more member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet who toes the line drawn by the wealthy corporate interests rather than protecting the health and well-being of American families.
The full Senate must vote no on Pruitt’s nomination.
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