Pierce: Scott Pruitt's Budget Meeting Had No Shortage of Entertainment

[mcar]

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a20720872/scott-pruitt-senate-testimony-udall/

Scott Pruitt's Budget Meeting Had No Shortage of Entertainment
Senate Democrats were mean to the EPA director.


BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
MAY 16, 2018

WASHINGTON—EPA administrator and energy industry marionette Scott Pruitt dropped by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday to talk about his budget for the upcoming year. Since being put in charge of the EPA, an agency he at that point was suing in his capacity as attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt’s notion of his budget has included luxury travel—for “security reasons”—lights and sirens as he gallivants around Washington, and the now-infamous $43,000 Cone of Silence phone booth that he had installed in his office at EPA...

Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, called Pruitt “a laughingstock” for his insistence that he needed to fly first-class to avoid angry tree-huggers back in the peanuts-and-soda seats on airplanes. “Nobody,” Leahy reminded Pruitt, “even knew who you were.” But the real entertainment was provided by Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico...

Udall didn’t waste any time putting Pruitt in the skillet. The senator roasted him on uncomplimentary emails directed at Democratic legislators that had emanated from Pruitt’s office, on the $43,000 phone booth boondoggle that Pruitt, in apparent violation of federal law, installed without informing either the proper congressional committees or the GAO. Udall ended by calling on Pruitt to resign...

There is no question any more as to what Pruitt has been about at the EPA. He has been about rolling back as many regulations as possible as quickly as possible, and damn the damage he might be causing. Udall was particularly exercised about how Pruitt has stalled on the proposed ban on methylene chloride, an ingredient in most common painting supplies that has killed a number of people. The EPA under President Obama had proposed the ban and Pruitt simply has refused to implement it.

[BigmanPigman]

1. "Laughingstock" is being too kind.

When is he going to get canned? He must be doing a great job at ruining the environment and making his buddies rich or he would have been history by now.

[Zoonart]

2. Why has no one asked to SEE this cone of silence?

What are there no photos available of said "cone"?
In the immortal words of Mr. Peterman: "I'm going to have to see this hat."