WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Udall issued the following statement:
“When I voted against Scott Pruitt’s confirmation to be EPA administrator, my biggest concern was his intention to launch an all-out assault on laws that protect the health of America’s children by keeping air and water clean and preventing hazardous substances from contaminating our homes, schools, and communities. In the last year, Pruitt has waged war on health and safety, dismantling protections from neurotoxic pesticides, dangerous air pollution, greenhouse gases, water pollution and other extremely hazardous chemicals – all for the benefit of his campaign donors and industry cronies. But that isn’t all – he has done it while making a mockery of ethics laws that protect taxpayers from government waste, fraud and abuse. He has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the taxpayers and spent it on special perks for himself, while trying to slash the budget for the health and safety programs his agency oversees. And the list of ways he has abused his office just keeps getting longer: lavish first class flights around the world; swanky hotel stays; taking EPA enforcement officers away from their jobs investigating polluters to serve as his round-the-clock personal security – even while on a family vacation to Disneyland; big salary raises for his friends; building a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office; and even detailing EPA staff to find him a D.C. apartment. The straw that broke the camel’s back was accepting a special deal on an apartment owned by the wife of a lobbyist tied to industries regulated by the EPA.
“I always believed Scott Pruitt would be a disaster for health and safety, but even so, I have been shocked at how brazenly he has abused the taxpayers’ trust, his office, and this administration. New revelations keep coming to light, and there’s no sign that we’ve reached the end. It’s past time for Pruitt to go, and I will be introducing a ‘Sense of Congress’ resolution calling on him to resign for the good of the American people.”
