i'm not sure where he thinks he works, but his security detail has cost the american taxpayers nearly $3 million during his tenure, roughly three times that of his predecessor gene mckathy. related to his apparent privacy kerps, he -- concerns, he felt the need for taxpayers to pay for him to install a private, sound proof $40,000 phone booth in his office at e.p.a. hawrlts. in headquarters. he had to buy biometric locks to the booth. paid $3,000 to have his office swept for bugs and described his soundproof booth as a sensitive, compartmented informational facility. no other e.p.a. administrator in history felt the need for such a booth. i'm not aware of any cabinet secretary who felt that kind of

need. earlier this week administrator pruitt removed a career staffer who approved an internal report that undermined mr. pruitt's claims that he needed to fly first class. 24/7 security detail, a bullet-proof vest and other unprecedented security protection. the career staffer who questioned those expenditures, who approved the internal report discussing them was removed. reports have also surfaced that administrator pruitt bypassed the white house to hire ex-lobbyists and sidestepped president trump's promise to drain the swamp, required appointees to sign an ethics pledge, removing an obscure safety provision in drinking water encouraging the agency to hire scientific personnel, mr. pruitt used his authority to skirt the ethics pledge and

increase the number of ex-lobbyists who could work on issues of importance to the previous clients with impunity. it goes on. mr. pruitt used his same authority to again bypass the white house and grant significant raises to favored staff. after the white house refused to boost the pay of those favored staff, administrator pruitt reappointed both staff members under the safe drinking water staff authority allowing him to set salary levels himself. a 34-year-old staffer was given a raise of approximately $56,000 a year. $56,000 a year. mr. president, that raise is $1,000 short of annual median household income for our country. for our country. mr. pruitt's 26-year-old director scheduling in advance got a pay bump too. almost $30,000.

on his interview with fox news last week, mr. pruitt denied knowledge of the raises but recently reported e-mails in which one staff indicated mr. pruitt was aware and personally involved with at least one of those raises. mr. president, perhaps most troubling among the litany of questions of financial expenditures and ethical lapse mr. pruitt has demonstrated during his time as administrator are reports that he demoted, reassigned staff to try to curtail his spending or question his ethical misbehavior. "the new york times" reported two weeks ago that at least five officials, both career e.p.a. employees and one political appointee, four of them high ranking, were reassigned, demoted, or pushed out after they raised concerns about mr. pruitt's excessive spending and mismanagement. just yesterday we learned that mr. pruitt wanted to revamp

e.p.a. memorabilia to of all things, more prominently highlight himself. that is not what leadership or public service are supposed to be. mr. president, the list goes on. almost every day a new scandal emerges, and mr. pruitt, his alleged actions and ethical shortcomings surpass what many thought impossibly, -- impossible and yet he continues to serve the american people as administrator of the environmental protection agency. unfortunately, this outcome was predictable. i'm going to go to a home opener in baseball tonight, the kansas city royal farm club. some of the pitchers are going to throw a pitch tonight and the pitch will be well telegraphed. that means the hitters can sort

of guess what's coming their way. well, this outcome was predictable. this pitch was well telegraphed. when the senate confirms a candidate whose focus throughout his career on crippling the very agency he seeks to lead, we should not expect a different result. not expecting anything more thag more from mr. pruitt would be foolish. he spent six years as attorney general of oklahoma, attacking the very agency that he now leads, suing the very agency he now leads. the only question is when president trump or members of this body will finally hold scott pruitt accountable for the damage he has done to the agency and the environment he has promised, pledged, sworn to protect. we should know whether andrew wheeler is up to the task of helping to right this badly damaged e.p.a. ship, to restore

the confidence and have it headed back on the right course. once again i will warn my colleagues that scott pruitt's behavior should give us pause before we consider another nomination. some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle may suggest that i'm grand standing or that this is some effort to score political points. let me just say this is serious stuff. this is serious stuff not just to democrats, not just to republicans or independents, not just to people in government, but to people who pay for that government, the taxpayers of this country. today we are considering the nominee to serve as the deputy administrator of the environmental protection agency, andrew wheeler. the deputy administrator is second in command at the agency. the role of the deputy administrator is to assist the administrator, in this case, scott pruitt in overseeing the day-to-day operations that help

to keep the agency running, to protect our air, protect our water, to protect our public health. scott pruitt has been making headlines for the e.p.a. as of late, but for all the wrong reasons. for his first class flights to his questionable dealings with industry, scott pruitt has clearly been doing what he wants to do at e.p.a. with little regard to the rules or the american people. even if mr. twhaoerl -- mr. wheeler agrees with the e.p.a. leadership, it seems scott pruitt reassigns dissenters. it is important to know how andrew wheeler views the chaos that has engulfed e.p.a. in the last year, most of which is of scott pruitt's own making. after all, the things we've learned about the e.p.a. over the last two weeks give us a different outlook than when

leadership mcconnell filed cloture on andrew wheeler's nomination just before the easter recess. and it certainly gives a much different perspective than we had when andrew wheeler sat before the environment and public works committee last year. especially important to learn how mr. wheeler would address scott pruitt's ethical lapses because it is becoming clear that my republican colleagues sadly have little interest in addressing them. this week our colleague, senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island and i sent a letter to our chairman, our friend, senator barrasso, requesting a hearing on the troubling information that we received regarding mr. pruitt's expensive and unprecedented security detail. chairman barrasso apparently does not attend all the hearings. i hope he'll reconsider that decision. when top government officials fail to follow the rules, we in congress have a constitutional duty to hold them accountable and to get to the truth.

what did thomas jefferson say? he used to say the people know the truth, they won't make a mistake. hopefully if we in this body know the truth, we won't either. the legislative branch of government is a coequal branch of government. our founding fathers in their wisdom designed a system where there would be checks and balances built in so that no one branch could get too far out of line. but that system only works if each branch is willing to assert its authority. i am hardly the first person to recognize the need of the importance of congressional oversight. many of our senate colleagues have conducted effective oversight over the years. i have. our presiding officer has. many members of this body have. here's a call for increased oversight from 2010. it reads, and i quote, the

legislative branch has its own responsibility to provide oversight over the executive branch agencies. our mission should be to provide oversight for the current administration to ensure integrity and transparency over policy decisions being made that affect people's lives today. as issues arose in previous congresses, previous chairmen held hearings into those matters. those are not my words. those are the words of my friend, our friend, the chairman of the environment and public works committee. let me just say i approve this message. here's a call for increased oversight from i think, from june -- no, this is april. this is april 2016. it reads, mr. president, like so much in washington, d.c., the e.p.a. has grown too big, too

arrogant, too irresponsible and too unaccountable. people in america deserve accountability. again, i agree with john barrasso. finally a quote from september 2015. the agency needs to step back and rethink its priorities. the environmental protection agency has been out of control for far too long. it's time for congress and president obama to hold the e.p.a. accountable for its failures and it's time to rein in this runaway bureaucracy before it does more damage to our communities, to our economy, and to our country. september 17, 2015. mr. president, some things are

too important to be held hostage by partisanship. oversight shouldn't only be important when a democrat is in the white house. oversight shouldn't be a critical component of congress' work when barack obama and gene mccarthy are in charge. oversight is our constitutional responsibility in the senate and it should be constant no matter which party is in power in the senate, the house, or in the white house, or an official's actions are right or wrong does not depend on where they fall on the political spectrum. even trey gowdy, i think a terrific congressman from south carolina, republican chair of the house oversight committee, recognizes the need for oversight here. and our republican colleagues in the senate have an obligation to

hold mr. pruitt to the same standards that they hold officials who served in past administrations. because, mr. president, if lisa jackson had been accused of even a fraction, even a fraction of the things it seems as though mr. pruitt has done, we would be holding hearings in the dirksen building in the e.p.w. hearing room every week. every week. and we should be. andrew p wheeler worked as a senate staffer. he worked for our friend, george voinovich, one of my dearest friends in my whole life. he conducted a lot of oversight throughout his career. he later worked for senator jim inhofe. andrew has worked for members like senator inhofe and george voinovich who i know take seriously their oversight roles. we should be able to hear from andrew wheeler what his plans

are to rein in the abuses at e.p.a. before he takes this important job. mr. president, i reserve the balance of my time.

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to say a few words about the federal bureau of investigation, the f.b.i. this is our nation's premier law enforcement agency and i want to speak about the men and women who distinguish it. first, i want to refer to an opinion piece in "the new york times" that talks about the former director of the f.b.i., james comey. as the article is entitled, "the tragedy of james comey," the story has both positive things to say about mr. comey, well deserved, but also some criticism which i would suggest is also well deserved. perhaps all of us exhibit both

positive and negative attributes, and all of us make mistakes, and i don't mean to pick on mr. comey primarily because it lays the foundation of what i want to say. in the first line of "the new york times" article, james comey is about to become ewe bitus -- ubiquitous, he will be on interviews with steven he c obae and he will be everywhere, we expect him to tell his story from his perspective. as a preface of what i want to say about the rank and file about the men and women in the f.b.i., let me read a couple of paragraphs.

the writer says that director comey was the f.b.i. director overseeing the investigations into hillary clinton's e-mail server. he and his team decided that she had not done anything that warranted criminal charges. and he, director comey, knew that republicans would blast him as a coward who was trying to curry favor with the likely future president. so he decided to go public with the explanation for not charging clinton and to criticize her harshly, he doubled down and had an investigation 11 days before the election, even as other justice officials urged him not to. department policy dictates that investigators aren't supposed to talk publicly about why they are not bringing charges, they especially don't do so when it could affect the outcome of the election. that, as people will recall, is

one of the primary reasons why rod rosenstein, the current deputy attorney general of the united states, recommended to the president that he dismiss mr. comey for violating department of justice guidelines when it comes to talking about an investigation which should remain confidential, particularly when there's a decision not to charge the person being investigated, and usurping the role of the prosecutor recognizing that the role of the f.b.i. is the primary investigator is -- is very different when it comes to the charging decision, that is left to the department of justice, not to the f.b.i. but, as the article goes on to say, comey decided he knew better than everyone else. he was the righteous jim comey, after all, he was going to speak truth to power. he was also not incidentally going to protect his own fearless image.

he developed a series of rationales suggesting that he really had no choice, and he remained unpersuasive, the article says, when doing the right thing meant staying quiet and taking some lumps, comey chose not to. the article has a lot of complimentary material and also some criticism, and i think it's a fair piece, but the reason i mention that is because so much of what we heard about the f.b.i. and the department of justice recently has been caught up in the emotions and drama here in washington, d.c. and while appropriate criticism and investigations should take place for past actions at the department of justice, former attorney general loretta lynch and the decision she made not to demand that director comey let the department of justice make

the ultimate charging decision, there's a lot of room for criticism, and i suggest there will be additional information that will be forthcoming and should be produced to congress as part of our oversight responsibilities. but the big mistake i think mr. comey made was assuming that he was the law unto himself and that the rules applied to everybody else but not to him and, as the article says, that he knew better than anybody else. all-that i want to contrast with what i experienced back home in austin where my wife and i live. i was there after the series of five bombings that detonated in packages across the city, killing two people and wounderringers -- wounding others. people were very much on edge. it reminded me of the sniper who was in washington, d.c., for a while and people were terrorized

and not willing to put gasoline in their car. well, there was a similar effect of what happened with these bombings in texas and in austin. while the suspect was at large, i spoke to the police chief, brian manly, and he told me how thankful he was for the army of agents, including the f.b.i. agents, he told me as many as 500 gerl agents -- 500 agents were there. i'm sure that it was those agents' methodical work, combined with the local partners, why the bomber didn't wreak more havoc in the texas capital. it is important to remember that the f.b.i.'s role during the austin bombings is important to

acknowledge in this political climate when the bureau has come under criticism and part of so much drama and publics. of course, that was mainly about the past and certainly not about the new leadership that has been installed at the f.b.i. under the leadership of f.b.i. director christopher ray. the debate started during the tenure of loretta lynch and continued through mr. comey investigation of hillary. it is important to distinguish between the ranking and file professionals at the f.b.i. and people who make mistakes and overstep their bounds and gave, unfortunately, the rest of the organization -- tainted their name. so i want to take a moment to do what director ray has done in the past, and that is to reintroduce people to the f.b.i.

the american public needs to be reminded of what the f.b.i. actually does and how pivotal that work is and how long it has been doing it. the f.b.i. has been existence since 198, and i think relentless is the best way to describe it. they have helped to serve crimes like cold-blooded murder like happened in my state in 1983. last year the f.b.i. added the suspect to the top ten most wanted list and shortly thereafter, the man turned himself in. it took more than three decades, but the f.b.i. pursued all leads until finally it got its man. that's just one example of what happens every day at the f.b.i. under the effective leadership of director ray, the agency has remained committed to doing things independently and by the book, which i think is perhaps the most important characteristic for as long as it

takes to close the case. it is absolutely critical that law enforcement agencies do things by the book and follow the rules and the law and the criticism that we've seen directed toward director comey and former attorney general loretta lynch and eric holder is because they appeared not to do things by the book but appeared to be unduly swayed by other considerations and indeed broke the rules in the book so to speak. sometimes the fierce independence and tight-lipped process by which the f.b.i. is supposed to operate can irk people. we are people of immediate gratification, we want to know the answer right now, when often law enforcement officers has to do painstaking, time-consuming work. some say that investigations are

taking too long or shouldn't be going on at all, but that's how the agency is supposed to operate, on its own, according to the legal process, step by painstaking step. as mr. ray said in the past, the means needs to justify the ends, not the other way around. no rock should go unturned in an investigation because that's how crimes are solved. but the rank and file men and women at the f.b.i., i think it is important for us to send a clear and emphatic message here at the united states senate. we appreciate everything you do to protect the public safety and secure the public trust. i want to particularly acknowledge the service of special agent in charge of the f.b.i. san antonio division, christopher combs, as well as the other men and women under his command.

these agents have been working some long days and nights, as you can imagine, supporting our low law enforcement during the austin bombings and the tragic shooting at sutherland springs last fall. these days it is important that our appreciation for the bureau not get drowned out by the criticism or those who mistakenly assume that because a few people misbehave that is somehow reflects on the organization as a whole. it is important that we let the men and women of the f.b.i. know that we stand behind their detail-oriented approach to enforcing and upholding the law, that we support the f.b.i.'s doing the right thing in the right way and pursuing the facts and the evidence independently and objectively wherever they lead. more than 37,000 men and women work at the f.b.i. that's a staggering number of diligent individuals all of whom play some role of investigating

crimes, executing search warrants, conducting interviews, and carrying out counterintelligence investigations across our country. today the f.b.i. helps track down fugitives, terrorists, kidnappers, bank robbers, and more. it publishes its top ten most wanted list, as i eluded to earliers, and traction down other leads. it traction down public corruption, elder fraud, and even weapons of mass destruction. the f.b.i. provides crisis intervention teams, including mental health professionals after mass casualty events. it recently launched operation disarray, part of a broader department of justice initiative to disrupt the sale of opioids online. one special agent said the point of this new initiative is to put drug traffickers on notice.

law enforcement is watching when p people buy and -- when people buy and sell drugs online. for those who think the dark net provide anonymity, the special agent explained, you are mistaken. to that f.b.i. agent, i say, amen, sir. nice work. as this example shows, the very nature of crime itself is changing with advances in technology and the f.b.i.'s busy innovating it, changing circumstances and enterprising criminals. recently the f.b.i. helped us indict online sex traffickers who used websites like backpage.com to coerce children into sexual servitude. and the f.b.i. uncovered information that led to the thwarting of a terrorist plot to blow up part of the subway system in manhattan. let's not forget the countless examples as we sort out issues related to russian interrs

feerns in our last -- interference in our last election and the hillary clinton e-mail serve debacle. let's allow the men and women of the f.b.i. to do their work. let's not forget in 1935 when the f.b.i. adopted the official seal, f.b.i. ways synonymous not only with the agency's name but with three traits: fidelity, bravery, and integrity. which appear on the seal to this day and describe what truly motivates the overwhelming majority of f.b.i. personnel. mr. cornyn: so i wanted to come to the floor, mr. president, to say thank you to the men and women at the f.b.i. for all me do in protecting this country and pursuing justice. we are indebted to them and stand behind them in this unending quest. mr. president, i yield the floor. i'd note the absence of a

quorum. i would withdraw that request. mr. carper: yesterday, mr. president -- the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: jeh johnson, our former secretary of security, dropped by to say hello. i shared with him the results of an annual federal survey, as you may know, the -- every federal may -- every major federal agency has their employees surveyed with respect to their morale. some agencies have very high morale. some agencies have not so high. and for-- i still am a member of the homeland security committee. jeh johnson, secretary and deputy secretary of that department spent several -- like three years, three years they served in those capacities working with us on the committee to try to figure out how can we

help employees at homeland security department feel better about their work. and i would come here every month to this floor and pick out a different part of the department of homeland security where work was being done and just -- with posters, pictures, just as you have done here today to make it real about the service and the sacrifices of the folks, whether it's the f.b.i., the department of homeland security, which they make. it's one of those things we found out -- it kind of resonated in the department and just spread. even to this day people remember it and express thanks for that. so i want to thank you for taking a moment to do really something very similar, maybe better than what i tried to do over those years. i would say when i was chairman of homeland security, i had a chance to -- a committee i had a chance to work with, jim comey, not every day but a fair amount.

i must say -- and if' worked with a -- and i've worked with a lot of great leaders and some not so great. my friend from texas has as well. i have enormous respect for him and his integrity and his commitment to doing what is right. i have high regard for chris ray, our new f.b.i. director. but there's a part of me that still wishes that jim comey was still leading that agency. we'll see what he writes in his book. i only wish him and his family well. thank you. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. cornyn: i have eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. these have been approved by both the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that any pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. now, mr. president, i'm here to react to the selection by the

president of andrew wheeler to be the proposed number two at e.p.a. this is a selection that continues the trump administration's essentially complete subverveiance to the fossil fuel industry in the entire environmental arena. i have described scott pruitt, rirk perry, and ryan zinke over at interior as the three stooges of thes for sill fuel industry and i reiterate that today. scott pruitt in addition to being one of those stooges also has some of the most extraordinary displays of self-serving political acts, unethical and self-serving political acts of anybody i've ever seen.

i can only imagine -- i can only aj what the floor -- only imagine what the floor would look like if an obama appointee had engaged in those kind of behaviors. we would have had republicans in all those seats shouting, jumping up and down infuriated by that misconduct. but because it's pruitt, because it's trump, because the fossil fuel industry is getting everything it wants out of this guy, the silence is deafening. but that doesn't change the underlying fact that the american people are owed -- folks in high office who take their public duty seriously. there's very little chance that mr. wheeler is going to take his public duties seriously as number two at e.p.a., and it's not like at number one at e.p.a., there's a stopgap that's

going to defend us. so this is a really daingious duo -- dangerous duo. scott pruitt, the complete flunky of the fossil fuel industry, largely disgraced but still hanging on there with his only claim to fame that he will do anything the fossil fuel industry tells him to do. that's why he's hanging on. and now call lobbies wheeler coming on. that's dangerous to lead our environmental agency. there's a photograph that actually got the photographer fired for releasing these photographs. there was a meeting over at the energy department with secretary perry with bop murray who is -- with bob murray who is the head of murray energy. he is a coal baron, and he obviously has one interest in mind, which is sell more coal, burn more coal, and to heck with

the rest of you, more or less. this was mr. murray arriving at the department of energy up in the conference room of the secretary. the bald gentleman is mr. murray. the man whose head is ab secured -- is obscured behind him in this torrid hug is our energy secretary. so you knew things were going to go well for mr. murray at this meeting after that nice, cozy reception that he got. and then the photographer went on and took this picture, which is murray energy corporation's recommendations to the honorable j. richard perry as to what he should do about the environment. now, i will spend some more time on that memo in just a moment because after long delays, we're

actually able to get our hands on it. they delayed and they fiddled and faddled and wouldn't confirm that they had it. but when the photograph showed that they had it, they said okay, we'll give it to you when we give our our foyer request. great. thanks a bunch. so much for congressional oversight. i hope that the now majority, if you're ever in the minority in the senate, don't get treated this way, being told line up with the folks. we're not interested in responding to oversight requests for memos. but that's what we got. here's another photograph from that meeting. there's mr. murray telling the energy secretary what to do. there's the energy secretary fresh out of his nice hug, being told what to do. and here is mr. wheeler, the guy who's going to be the number two at e.p.a., right in the room

where the murray directions to the trump administration were being discussed and delivered. so let's take a look at -- i ask unanimous consent that this document be attached as an exhibit at the end of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: here's the action plan. dear secretary perry, enclolled -- enclosed is an action plan for achieving low-cost electricity in america and to assist in the survival of our country's coal industry. so what are the recommendations? page one. suspend the coal-fired power plant effluent limitation guidelines. yes. why would we want limitations on the effluent that a coal-fired power plant can emit? why on earth would anybody want that? no, suspend those is one of the recommendations.

second is, withdraw and suspend the so-called endangerment finding. well, the endangerment finding is the fact-based finding at e.p.a. that shows that in addition to as a matter of law, massachusetts v. e.p.a., carbon dioxide is a pollutant in the air, this is the agency finding that is actually a dangerous pollute tnts in the -- pollutant in the air. that's why -- why it's called the endangerment finding. they want to knock that out so they can knock out regulation of more coal-powered power plant he have -- effluence, including carbon dioxide. then they want to end the tax credit for wind and solar. here is an industry that gets, according to the international monetary fund, $700 billion,

with a b, billion dollars a year in effective subsidies in the united states of america alone, and their goal is to knock out the little production tax credit that wind and solar get. that's what he asked for. withdraw from the paris climate accord. well, we all know that he was obeyed on that. here is a particularly good one. end ozone regulations. end ozone regulations. let me tell you what rhode island's experience in this is. the midwestern power plants burn coal and other fossil fuels, they run the exhaust out smokestacks, many of them have raised enormously high smokestacks to get all that stuff high up in the air, so it is then carried by prevailing winds out of their state, out of their state, and as it bakes in the heat, as it travels through the air, it becomes ozone, and

that ozone lands in rhode island. ladies and gentlemen, children go to the hospital because of asthma complications from ozone in rhode island. we have had periods when on a bright and sunny day, talk radio on the way, your drive time radio is announcing to rhode islanders that today is a bad air day in the state of rhode island and the elderly and babies and people with any kind of breathing difficulty should stay indoors. you are not welcome out of doors because of ozone levels. this guy wants to end ozone regulation. i think not. and this guy was his lobbyist in trying to do that. that's what has become of e.p.a. what else?

overturn the cross-state air pollution rule. rhode island doesn't create much air pollution. the e.p.a. protects rhode island from other states' air pollution with, guess what? the cross-state air pollution rule. he wants to overturn it. and finally, cut the staff of the u.s. environmental protection agency in at least half. well, they're doing a pretty good job at destroying the environmental protection agency as an agency that does environmental protection, but i got to say cutting the agency in half and firing half of it, that seems a bit much. they also want justices of the supreme court who rule in favor of coal, they want to replace all the members of the federal regulatory commission, members of the tennessee valley authority board, and members of the national labor relations board, and of course there is a bunch in there to make sure that

coal safety regulations are undone. but that is what we are dealing with. we are dealing with an agency that has been taken over by the fossil fuel industry, and it has gotten so bad that i want to conclude with this editorial, which i will ask unanimous consent to have attached as an exhibit at the end of my remarks. i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, for that. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: here is an editorial from, of all places, the charleston, west virginia, "gazelle mail." i think the body can take notice that west virginia is more or less the heart of coal country, and here is what the charleston, west virginia, "gazelle mail" said about where things are at e.p.a. right now. the title was "with self-serving pruitt at e.p.a., trump is

building a swamp." here are some selections. donald trump campaign crowds love to chant drain the swamp, but if ever there was a political swamp creature, it's scott pruitt, the man trump picked to head the u.s. environmental protection agency. the "charleston west virginia gazelle mail" continues, pruitt has been a shell for fossil fuel industries since his days as attorney general in oklahoma, so maybe he saw this, all his self-aggrandizing expenditures, as his just deserts. but of all the trump administration flunkies who have used taxpayer money for their personal benefit, pruitt may be the worst. the word from charleston, west virginia. some of the exampings, pruitt used a loophole in the safe drinking water act that's

supposed to let the e.p.a. hire experts quickly in a drinking water emergency to give taxpayer-funded raises to, quote, political lackeys. he took first-class charter and military flights that cost taxpayers $163,000. he tripled the size of his security detail. he had the e.p.a. spend $25,000 -- i think we actually know that that's actually up to $43,000 now, quote, to build a soundproof communications booth in his office. yup, there is nothing the e.p.a. administrator needs like a cone of silence soundproof communications booth in his office like he's running the c.i.a. or something. here's how they conclude. in charleston, west virginia. there are many reasons why scott pruitt shouldn't be leading the e.p.a., primarily that he doesn't seem to believe in science and is more interested in helping big business than,

you know, protecting the environment. but his obvious belief that taxpayer money and resources are given to him for his personal benefit is a big reason as well. i think the newspaper in west virginia -- i thank the newspaper in west virginia for acknowledging that some conduct is so disgraceful that it goes too far, and when that is the number one person at e.p.a., we have no business confirming this as the number two person at e.p.a. with that, mr. president, i see colleagues on the floor who i assume want to speak in favor of this nominee, and i will yield the floor to them. mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i'm here along with my colleague from oklahoma. i rise today to speak in favor of the nomination of andrew

wheeler. andrew wheeler i am supporting to serve as the deputy administrator of the environmental protection agency. during a previous administration, the environmental protection agency issued burdensome regulations that harm american workers and american communities. since president trump took office 15 months ago, the e.p.a. has rolled back many of these punishing regulations, including the so-called clean power plan and the waters of the united states or the wotus rule. under president trump and e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt, this agency is now working for commonsense environmental policies, policies that don't harm the american economy and don't punish american families. administrator pruitt needs his full team at the environmental protection agency in order to accomplish these goals. so today the senate is going to consider the nomination of andrew wheeler to be deputy administrator of the e.p.a. now, the deputy administrator is

critical, critical in developing and implementing the policies that fulfill the e.p.a.'s mission of protecting human health and the environment. mr. wheeler is very well qualified for the position. he spent over 25 years working in environmental policies. in that time, he has served as a career employee at the e.p.a., working as an environmental protection specialist. this experience makes him uniquely qualified to serve in the role of deputy administrator. he has spent over a decade here on capitol hill shaping environmental law. he served as the staff director of the senate environment and public works air subcommittee for six years from 1997 to 2003. this was followed by another six years as the republican staff director and chief counsel for the full committee, 2003 to 2009. most recently, mr. wheeler has been a consultant for a variety

of energy and environmental clients. his commitment, andrew wheeler's commitment to sound environmental policies has received recognition from across the aisle as well. the environment and public works committee ranking member said this of mr. wheeler. he said i think having in the agency that he actually cares about the environment, having worked in the agency. he actually cares about the environment, the air that we breathe, the water we drink, the planet on which we live. stuart spencer, the president of the association of air pollution control agencies, said this of mr. wheeler. he said mr. wheeler has exemplified excellence in his professional endeavors in both his previous government service and his private sector experience. in short, he is keenly qualified to hit the ground running at the e.p.a., and i agree. this nomination has garnered the support of a broad base of organizations including the national association of

manufacturers, the united mine workers of america, and the chamber of commerce. mr. president, andrew wheeler is well qualified, well qualified to fill this critically important role at the e.p.a. he is the right person to serve as deputy administrator of the e.p.a., and i would urge every senator to support this nomination. with that, mr. president, i would recognize my colleague and friend from oklahoma who has been a mentor to me on the committee, the former chairman of the committee of environment and public works, jim inhofe. thank you very much, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma is recognized. mr. inhofe: thank you. i thank the senator from wyoming for the great remarks he made about andrew wheeler. you know, it's awfully hard to find anyone who knows him well who will say anything bad about him. i guess the only thing you could criticize him for is he worked for me for 14 years. i will tell you that during that time frame, i don't remember over a 14-year period anyone

ever accusing him of being unfair and being negative in any way at all. but a couple of things were said that i think i need to correct the record. i need to be the one to correct it because i'm the guy he worked for for a long period of time, in both my personal office in the capacity as chairman of the environment and public works committee. it's because i know him so well that i have got to correct the record on his behalf. one allegation made against andrew in a news article is that he retaliated against a witness at an e.p.w. -- that's environment and public works -- senate hearing in 2005 because they were unhappy with the witnesses -- that we were unhappy with the witness' testimony. nothing in the news article was true or accurate. this was an article that came out just the other day. the witness in question and the

major source of the article is mr. bill becker. now, he was then the president of a thing called stopa, which is the association of state air directors. these are the state directors. these are the ones that are now becoming more prominent in what they are able to get through. mr. becker charged at that time that in retaliation for his january, 2005, testimony, the committee launched an investigation into his organization's finances. in reality, the investigation was actually launched almost a year before mr. becker appeared before the committee. that's a huge difference. i mean, the article could not be true. prior to the hearing, my staff notified the minority staff of the committee that he was currently under investigation, and we recommended against calling mr. becker as a witness. i still have a copy of the memo

my staff prepared for me before the hearing in 2005 noting that they had notified the minority staff about the investigation. this is the letter. i ask unanimous consent it be inserted in the record at this point. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: unfortunately, facts don't seem to matter when a trump nomination is at stake. the story that isn't being told is about his character and integrity. people don't remember that the bush e.p.a. told minority members of the e.p.w. committee, the democrats, that they wouldn't respond to their letters. well, it was -- it was andrew wheeler that made it clear to the e.p.a. that they would answer any questions the minority had or as chairman i would submit their questions for them. no one is telling that story,

but they are spreading other allegations. another negative story that is making the rounds is that andrew hosted fundraisers for myself and senator barrasso while it was known he was going to be nominated as deputy administrator of the e.p.a. well, the fact of the matter is that andrew hosted these fund-raisers long before being interviewed by the white house for that nomination. all the dates are there, the facts are there. after dispensing with the falsehoods surrounding andrew, the rest of the opposition to him comes down to two things. the two things only -- he doesn't have to be the correct view of the environmental policy, and he worked for the wrong people, including me. now, those things are actually stated on the senate floor. and i understand that. and it is -- if they consider that to be in opposition or something that needs to be

corrected, i believe they're wrong. because he was an excellent, excellent employee during that time and all the other times, and the fact that he had a choice of someone to support when he didn't -- he had not even been notified that he might be considered for this nomination is significant. the extreme environmentalists were given free rein under the obama administration for eight years, including writing the e.p.a.'s regulations and they can't handle the fact that the american people said, enough. trump and scott pruitt have been delivering relief for the american people and the economy since they've been in office. andrew wheeler will be a great help to administrator pruitt in continuing to implement president trump's vision of returning the e.p.a. to an agency of the people, subject to the rule of law. andrew has worked in the e.p.a.

before, even winning awards from the e.p.a., and will be a good steward for the environment. you know, it's always difficult when you know someone personally and you know their character and you have a personal love for them and for their career and you've played an integral part to hear things of a negative nature said about them. and i think a lot of the things they're grouping together, maybe they don't like philosophically scott pruitt. you know, i do. i was -- i spent 20 years in business. i know what overregulation is, and i know that our economy was suffering during the time, the eight years that we had others in charge. in fact, the proof of that is, the average increase in our economy for eight years was 1.5%. now, just because of this president and this administration getting rid of some of the overregulations, it is now well in excess of 3%.

now, people say, how are you going to pay for the road program and rebuilding the military that was torn down during the last administration? they forget about the fact -- and no one disagrees with this -- for every 1% increase in the economic activity or -- that $1.9 trillion over a ten-year period. and that's the reason we now are in a position to do something of the things that we need to be doing in terms of infrastructure and other things and certainly our military and other areas. so that is significant. that's something andrew wheeler knows well because we've gone through this in the past. so anyway, he is a wonderful guy, and i defy anyone who knows him well to say there is any flaw in his character. he is a -- he's going to do a great job and they need his help, and i appreciate the fact

that i believe he is going to be confirmed to thattings to. with that, i will yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. a senator: we are not in a quorum call, are we? the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. carper: i would sea that the quorum call vitiated. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. carper: thank you, mr. president. i rise today for the second time in opposition to the confirmation of andrew wheeler at this time to be deputy administrator of the environmental protection agency. it's not a decision i came to lightly or without considerable effort to find a different tact. i want to begin my section of my remarks right now by describing some of of the events that brought us to this point. first, i want to talk briefly about my own experience with mr. wheeler. as a staff member of the environment and public works committee worker for our dear friend be, the late senator voinovich and for mr. jim inhofe, mr. wheeler was not someone with whom we agreed with on each and every issue. however, mr. wheeler did prove to be someone with whom we could work on policies on which we did agree, on policies in which we did agree. like, for example, a diesel emission reduction act which reduces significantly diesel

engine pollution, emissions from older diesel engines. and i'd also note that his responses during and after last year's hearings on his nomination were for the most part encouraging. but mr. wheeler also has some recent professional history that is troubling, very troubling. during the trump transition, the public got a chance to read a so-called murray action plan. that's a list of policy proposals submitted to president trump and other trump administration officials by mr. wheeler's former client for a while, a fellow named bob murray. the murray action plan includes any number of measures that e.p.a. in the last 15 months has begun to implement, like the repeal of the clean power plan and the clean water rule and the dissemination of e.p.a.'s career workforce. the document also calls for some measures that e.p.a. has not yet

acted upon. for example, mr. murray calls for the repeal of the mercury and air toxic standard, rules that limit dangerous pollution from power plants. even though industry is already complying with those same rules. mr. murray also calls for a reexamination of climate change science and repeal of the e.p.a.'s so-called endangerment finding. i'll talk more about that in a minute. but conclusion of both the bush and obama administration, they found that global warming pollution from cars and s.u.v.'s was dangerous. i think i'll just take a minute and talk about the endangerment finding right here. people talk about the endangerment finding. i don't think it is well understood where it came from. and i want to take just a moment, if i can, to try to relate it in terms that i can understand and hopefully other people can as well. if you go back to the clean air

act section 202 of the clean air act it says that if e.p.a. determines that an air pollutant emitted from motor vehicles endangers public health or welfare, the e.p.a. has to write regulations to control those emissions -- has to write regulations to control those emissions. i believe it was in 1999 the environmental organizations petitioned e.p.a. to do just that, and they asked e.p.a. to determine a greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles was diplomaticcous. -- was dangerous. president bush rejected that request saying that greenhouse gas did not meet the definition of an airplay tant the state of massachusetts led a coalition of other states and environmental organizations, though many they filed a lawsuit against the obama administration's -- against the bush administratio h

administration's decision. in april, i think, of 2007 the supreme court ruled in favor of massachusetts and those who filed with massachusetts. the court told the e.p.a. in 2007 that greenhouse gas gags are, quote, air pollutants, close quote under the clean air act and the e.p.a. had to determine whether they were dangerous. although president bush's e.p.a. administrator steve johnson was ready to make the so-called endangerment finding for greenhouse gases being emitted from cars and s.u.v.'s, the white house would not let him do it. the white house would not let their own e.p.a. administrator make that finding. so it wasn't until a year or two later -- i think it was december 2009 -- that the obama administration's e.p.a. finalized its determination that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles are dangerous and in

2010 e.p.a. and the transportation department issued the first joint fuel economy and greenhouse gas tail pipe standards for cars and s.u.v.'s. in the meantime, many industry groups tried to overturn e.p.a.'s decisions. they filed suits in a number of different federal courts saying that those groups did not agree with the climate science. they didn't agree with the tests that e.p.a. used to arrive at this endangerment finding. and they didn't like the regulation that e.p.a. was writing in 2009. well, two or three years later, 2012, the court of appeals for the d.c. circuit -- that's the top appeals court in the whole country, right below the supreme court. anyway, the d.c. circuit court of appeals ruled against the industry, upholding both the

endangerment finding and the e.p.a.'s clean car rules. and the supreme court declined to take up the industry's appeal. so it stood. the u.s. court of appeals, they essentially sustained what e.p.a. under the obama administration sought to do and what steve johnson, who was the e.p.a. administrator? the bush administration the last year or two sought to do. so what does all this mean? what this means is this is law. the highest courts in the land have said that greenhouse gas gases are air pollutants, their danger you and the e.p.a. must regulate them. now, with that as a backdrop, het plea say that i met with mr. wheeler a couple times in the last year. i asked him directly -- directly

-- whether or not he was involved in writing mr. murray's proposal, so-called murray plan that has been taken as an action plan by this administration, by this e.p.a. under its current administrator. mr. wheeler assured me that he was not -- he was not involved in writing mr. murray's proposal. he did go on to tell me, however, that one of murray energy's priority issues that he actually -- andy wheeler actually worked on was securing health and other benefits forbe retired minors -- for retired miners. i think that's something most of us would support. moreover, mr. wheeler also assured me that he views e.p.a.'s legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which is based on the endangerment finding, as settled law. let me say that again. mr. wheeler assured me that he views the e.p.a.' e.p.a.'s legal authority to regulate greenhouse

gas gases emissions which is based on the endangerment finding, as settled law. he holds a view that is distinct from bob murray's. that's a good thing to me. i'm sure that i speak not just for myself when i say that i dio not feel similarly assured by administrator pruitt. the trump white house says that it wants the e.p.a. and the transportation department to negotiate what i like to call a win-win on cafe and tail pipe standards with california. that means the trump administration's policy must be to leave the endangerment finding alone because the endangerment find something what gives e.p.a. and california the authority to write the tail pipe greenhouse gas rules in the first place. administrator pruitt has repeatedly refused to say this clearly. for example, in july -- last july he told reuters there might

be a legal finding to overturn the decision. when i asked him in january to commit not to overturn it for as long as he is administrator, he refused to make that commitment. in preparation for mr. wheeler's confirmation, i tried very hard to obtain some clarity about just what e.p.a. plans to do with regards to the endangerment finding and the agency's stated efforts to negotiate new greenhouse gas vehicle standards with california. my staff and i talked to the e.p.a. administrator for air, important job, and with ryan jackson, administrator pruitt's chief of staff. we spent several weeks exchanging drafts of a letter that e.p.a. planned to send me that sought to do three things, to make clear three things. first, the letter affirmed the legal authority e.p.a. used to

find the greenhouse gas emissions were dangerous and set vehicle standards. second, the letter affirmed california's clean air act authority to set its own more stringent vehicle emissions. third, to use a process not unlike one used in past efforts, to preserve a national set of vehicle standards that automakers in california could support, a true win-win. we actually areached a -- we reached agreement on the text of it, inclueing mr. wear, his team and others. i'm told that administrator pruitt initially agreed to let the letter be sent, but then i'm also told that just days, maybe a week or two ago, that woman named samantha dravis, a political employee at e.p.a., who i think is from oklahoma,

who failed to come to work for three months last year. apparently she convinced the administrator to renege on the deal and not sign the letter. ultimately a significant reason why i cannot support mr. cheerl is because the agency refused to follow through on an agreement that it made with me on issues that are important to the auto industry and california. at this point in time, it is not the only reason we should move forward with this vote. in the past several weeks each day brings headline after headline. here they are again. this is just a handful of headlines. this is a target-rich environment in terms of headlines from scott pruitt. but in the past couple of weeks there is headline after headline, scandal after kanl, report after -- scandal after scandal and report after report

in the way that scott pruitt is running the agency. there have been dozens of calls for resignations. there's speculation how long he will remain in the job. it's entirely possible that mr. wheeler may be sworn in as acting administrator before he spends a day as deputy administrator. we'll see. the truth is we never really had the opportunity to ask mr. wheeler how he would -- how he would handle the reports of retaliation against staff who dare to cross him, unlawful repeals and other gross abuses of power. mr. pruitt -- of power mr. pruitt has inflicted on this country. if it was mr. wheeler's job to right those wrongs. neither mr. wheeler nor members

of the environmental protection agency were aware of many of these problems, kanls -- scandals when his confirmation hearing was held more than five months ago in the environment and public works committee. in my view in the senate today, i will not vote on his -- we should not vote on this confirmation until we know which job he will fill at the agency and until we know how he will remedy the overwhelming number of serious problems he will face when he arrives there. let me say one last thing if i could, mr. president. i'm a big believer in win-win situations, win-win solutions. i think my colleague who is presiding at this moment is too and we have tried to promote recycling, not just here in this body, but across the country in ways that create jobs, create

economic opportunity. i focus a lot, and i think a lot of colleagues do, how do we create a more nurturing environment for job creations. governors, presidents don't create jobs, we provide the environment for job creation. one of the things, one of the elements that's important for having that kind of nurturing environment for job creation is, frankly, clean air, clean water, and public healths. businesses like certainty and predictability. i'll never forget, it's been ten years or more, i was visited by a bunch of utility c.e.o.'s from all over the country and they came to talk with me and my staff about clean air legislation, covering four distinct pollutants. they included mercury, co2,

night nitrogen oxide, and maybe one more. i introduced legislation on the heels of president bush's proposal -- president bush proposed multipollutant legislation that he called it clear skies, the -- the version that i introduced with a republican colleague, we called our version really clear skies. it was four pollutants. anyway, we had c.e.o.'s from these utilities across the country to come and see us, and they wanted to talk about our legislation to ratchet down over time the emission of those pollutants from their utilities. we talked for about an hour, and at the end of the hour, mr. president, one of the c.e.o.'s of the utility, i think

it was from the southern part of the country, and he said, look, let me tell you, senator, here's ha you should -- here's what you and your colleagues should do with respect to air emissions for utilities. tell us what the rules are going to be, give us some flexibility, a reasonable amount of time to meet those expectations, and get out of the way. that's what he said. tell us what the rules are going to be, give us a reasonable amount of time to meet those expectations, and some flexibility, and get out of the way. with respect to cafe, dealing with fuel efficiency in cars, s.u.v.'s, and trucks, what we need to keep in mind is providing the same kind of certainty and predictability for this country and outside of this country as we expect them to increase fuel efficiency over

time forecaster, trucks, and advance. under -- and vans. under the current law that we opted, gosh, i want to say about ten years ago, we ramp up fuel efficiency requirements up through 2025. and between 2021 and 2025, the increases are pretty significant, pretty steep. the current administrationn't wants -- administration wants to eliminate the increases between 21 and 25 and really be silent on what happens after that. i go to the detroit auto show almost every year. in delaware, we had more caps -- cars, trucks, and advance than any state in the country. i got used to going to the auto show and i knew the people who

ran chrysler and g.e., and i still go to the auto shows most years. i went this time and talked with representatives from ten auto companies from this country and around the world and we talked about cafe and fuel-efficiency requirements going forward. two c.e.o.'s said to me in the private conversations, we need flexibility in the near term between 2021 and 2025, and in return we are willing to accept tougher goals extending out as long as 2030, near-term flexibility, longer term requirements. having said that, we don't want to be stuck in a situation where we have to go with one car with higher fuel efficiency requirements, a model of a car

or truck with higher fuel efficiency requirements for california and another different standard for the rest of the country. that just doesn't work for their business model. and they need to be able to build one model or one set of standards for california and the other 49 states. california wants to, where they've had huge air pollution problems over the years, wants to have rigorous requirements. i said this to the majority leader earlier this week. there is a way to work through all of this with the auto industry, california, the other states, with e.p.a., the department of transportation, there is a way to work through all of this that provides a real win-win, that preserves jobs in the auto industry, people building cars, and be respectful to california's special concerns, provides the certainty and predictability that the industry needs, and also ends up

giving us more energy-efficient vehicles, cleaner air and cleaner water -- especially cleaner air. that is a real win-win situation. that is a real win-win situation, and that's where we need to go. and we need leadership at e.p.a., we need leadership from the administration, we need leadership here from states like california to get us there. wayne gets i ask is a -- wayne gretzky is a great hockey player. wane gretzky, when he was playing, he was believed to be the best hockey player anybody had ever seen, at least in this country, and his nickname was the great one -- the great one. and he took a lot of shots. he was not shy about shooting for a goal. he was once asked, mr. gretzky, why do you take so many shots on

goal, he said, i missed every shot i never took. i missed every shot i never took. i'd like to take a shot in a lot of different respects. this is a shot we should take, and if we do, we'll do more than score a goal, we'll score a big goal for our country. we will save money for those driving cars, trucks, and advance and have cleaner air. with that having been said, mr. president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president, for the recognition today and i have come to the floor -- the presiding officer: i'm sorry, the senate is in a quorum call. mr. udall: i ask consent to vitiate the quorum call. sorry about that. the presiding officer: without objection. now the senator from new mexico is recognized. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. i've come to the floor today to talk a little bit about scott

pruitt and his administration over at the e.p.a. and also this current pending nomination of andrew wheeler to be the e.p.a. environmental protection agency deputy administrator. the environmental protection agency is in crisis. scott pruitt has thrown the agency into turmoil by gutting its mission to protect public health and the environment. and by violating ethics and taxpayers' trust, i believe scott pruitt must resign. many of our colleagues have said the same. even the president is questioning whether mr. pruitt should stay. and that is exactly why i'm concerned that the senate is not giving the deputy administrator nominee the scrutiny he should have. mr. president, andrew wheeler could become the e.p.a. administrator if scott pruitt is

forced out or resigns. he should be vetted as if he were the nominee, and there are many reasons to question whether he belongs at the e.p.a. at all. just like mr. pruitt, mr. wheeler has spent his entire political career fighting e.p.a. regulations to protect the environment and protect public health. he has lobbied for many years on behalf of polluters that the e.p.a. regulates. the american people support clean air, clean water. mr. wheeler is out of step with the values and principles of american taxpayers. i know many republicans who support environmental protection, and we have had many decades of bipartisan support for public health, for environmental protection, clean air, clean water, folks don't want their kids to have toxic chemicals in their blood or in

their bodies. so there's a lot of support by republicans in this area. and it has been a bipartisan issue. i call on my republican friends to press the pause button on andrew wheeler's nomination to be deputy administrator of the e.p.a. let us join together and demand that the president withdraw this nomination and nominate someone who supports the basic mission of the e.p.a. it's absolutely clear that administrator pruitt does not support the mission of the e.p.a. in fact, as state attorney general, he prided himself in fighting everything e.p.a. was doing and filing a number of lawsuits against the e.p.a. we need a person at e.p.a. who respects science and understands that climate change is here and now and must be addressed for the sake of our children and

grandchildren. a person who is not hostile to environmental regulation in all forms and a person who is not beholden to special interests. we are supposed to act as a check on the executive. so let's do our job. when i mention climate change, one of the very first things that administrator pruitt did when he got in was sabotage a climate change website. that website had been in place for ten years. it had been bipartisan through several administrations. they were accumulating the best knowledge from scientists in this country and the best knowledge from scientists around the world to make it available to the public and to make it available to scientists and to researchers. when i asked administrator pruitt in front of the appropriations subcommittee, now you've taken this website down

and when are you going to put it back up? and he said, oh, we're just updating it. we're just updating it. and we continue to ask the e.p.a. now we're almost a year later, one year later, and scott pruitt still refuses to put the website back up. so we really know where he's coming from on that issue. when scott pruitt came before the senate for confirmation, i voted against him because i expected he would work to undermine environmental and public health protections. mr. pruitt has met and far exceeded my worst expectations. he lobbied the president to leave the paris agreement. the united states is now the only country in the world that is not a signatory to the paris agreement. mr. pruitt proposed repealing the clean power plan, our

nation's best effort to attack climate change. it's an important public health measure, too. the e.p.a. estimated that the clean power plan could prevent it,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children. he stopped a ban on chlorpyrifos, a dangerous neurotoxic pesticide that e.p.a.'s own scientists say should be off the market because it is linked to brain damage in young children. on chlorpyrifos, this is an example where scientists -- and this is what the e.p.a. does, consult with scientists outside the agency, study within the agency, and try to come to conclusions with regard to public health. in the case of chlorpyrifos, scientists were increasingly

questioning whether chlorpyrifos should be out there as a pesticide. so they were restricting its use in homes. they were restricting its use near schools. and finally they decided, you know, this is such a dangerous neurotox in, we should -- neurotoxin, we should ban it outright. all the work had been done over 30 years. then here it is, presented to the incoming administrator. i would bet any other administrator in the history of our country were to look at the information, would have looked at what the science said, and would have banned the chemical. what has scott pruitt done? well, what he's done is he has said we're going to take a look at it for another five years. that's what he posted on his website. and there's no evidence that they're doing any review or anything. there's no evidence that chlorpyrifos isn't dangerous and should be banned. but that's the record that he

has at the environmental protection agency. he has also tried to suspend methane and smog regulations on oil and gas wells. he tried to roll back murky pollution rules for power plants and wants to delay rules to protect guest pesticide exposure and formaldehyde emissions. but mr. pruitt's actions have not -- it's absolutely clear that mr. pruitt's actions have not respected the rule of law and fortunately they have been blocked by the courts. now, mr. wheeler's environmental record is not much better. it gives no confidence that he will put teeth in safety first. mr. wheeler has called the paris climate agreement a, quote, sweetheart deal for china. he has fought limits on greenhouse gas emissions. he is a long-time lobbyist for murray energy corporation, one of the dirtiest coal companies

in the country which also has a terrible safety record. murray energy is the largest privately-held coal company in the nation. that raises big questions about conflicts of interest. the e.p.a. is now moving to repeal the clean power plan. it would be a big win for big coal at the expense of the american people. mr. wheeler opposed reducing poisonous murky emissions from -- mercury emissions that scott pruitt wants to gut. in fact, i don't see anything in mr. wheeler's background that indicates he will act as our nation's top environmental protector. when mr. pruitt was confirmed, we knew he had no problem bending ethics rules. his claim to fame in oklahoma

was currying favor with the moneyed interests and doing their bidding. but the number and extent of administrator pruitt's ethical lapses might surprise even the most cynical. the list of abuses grows daily. lavished first-class flights around the world, swampgy hotel stays, billing the taxpayers for his personal trips home to oklahoma. a $43,000 sound proof phone booth in his office. taking 30 e.p.a. enforcement officers away from investigating polluters to serve as his round-the-clock personal security detail, something no other e.p.a. administrator has done. speeding down the streets of washington with sirens and lights blaring to get to fancy restaurants.

huge unauthorized salary increases for his friends. and he even allowed a close aide to just not come to work for three months while still getting paid by the taxpayers. detailing e.p.a. staff to find him a place to live while he siphons hundreds of thousands of dollars off the taxpayers for special perks for himself. he tries to slash millions of dollars for health and safety programs for the american people. even his own staff has balked at his extraffic ganses, and the administrator has met their resistance by retaliating against them, changing their duties, sidelining them. mr. pruitt has treated e.p.a. like his own little personal feef tom and e.p.a. employees cater to his whims. former e.p.a. administrator under president george w. bush,

christy todd whitman recently called his spending and i quote now, absolutely ridiculous. that's what christy todd whitman said, absolutely ridiculous. she charged that his conduct as part of a -- again, a quote -- an extraordinarily ethically tone deaf administration. end quote. it's time for scott pruitt's imperial tenure to end. it's time for him to resign, and rye time for the president to stop defending him and to demand his resignation. but mr. pruitt should not be replaced by someone who does not support the basic mission of the agency, to protect the environment and public health. that's what the e.p.a. administrator should be focused on. and he should not -- it's

absolutely clear. the e.p.a.'s first administrator, william rubbing he will house, -- ruckelhaus, a nixon appointee, has sounded warnings about what's going on at the e.p.a. he said my principal concern is that pruitt and the people he hired to work with him don't fundamentally agree with the mission of the agency, end quote. the american people value that mission. they want clean air and clean water. they want the health of their children and our seniors protected. it is our responsibility to make sure the e.p.a. protects the american people. i urge my friends and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do our jobs, to put the nomination of andrew wheeler on hold, and to work together to demand that the president nominate a deputy administrator who will have the trust and confidence of the american people, and to work to keep

their air and water clean and their families safe and healthy. a couple of articles that i think show what has been happening over at the e.p.a., i would like unanimous consent to submit for the record a january 10, 2018, article by "the new york times." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. stated in this article, it says, and i quote, nearly a year into the trump administration, mentions of climate change have been systemically removed, altered, or played down on websites across the federal government. as i said earlier, they have taken down this huge bipartisan project that was in place for ten years and gotten rid of it and claimed they are updating it, but they haven't done anything after a year. the article goes on to quote a report by an environmental data

and governance initiative, and i quote, removing information regarding climate from the federal websites does not affect the reality of climate change but may serve to obfuscate the subject and inject doubt regarding the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that it is caused by human activity, end quote. now, with regard to e.p.a. workforce reductions, there is also another article i would ask consent to put in the record, a september 27, 2017, article by reuters. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. this article describes e.p.a.'s declining workforce to levels not seen in decades. stated in the article, it says, and i quote, in june, the e.p.a. unveiled a buyout program that would contribute to the biggest cuts of any federal agency in

president donald trump's 2018 budget proposal. the e.p.a. employs about 15,000 people. after buyouts and retirements, that number could drop to 14,428 by october, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said in an e-mail. that would be below the fiscal 1998 level when e.p.a. staffing was 14,440, the official noted. so here we are an attempt by administrator pruitt to emasculate the agency by chasing off some of the best and brightest scientists, buying out people, doing everything he can to intimidate people to leave the agency, and we're at a point in time here where we have a staffing level equivalent to

1988. and this is the agency that protects our water, our air, make sure the water's clean, the air's clean, protects our children from toxic chemicals. this is a pretty remarkable record. so i would ask my republican colleagues to reconsider this wheeler nomination, to put a hold on it, to have the proper vetting, and let's find the kind of individual who's going to respect the mission of the agency and move us forward in the direction of public health and protecting the environment and our air and water. thank you very much, mr. president. i -- at this time i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: