just so you know, this is exactly how carper put it. "i write to request the inspector general conduct an immediate review of the epa efforts to prevent fraud related to employee -- i am additionally informed that ms. dravis was likely compensated as a full-time employee throughout that time. now we can report that what led to this sort of remarkable claim is that this committee, the environment committee in the senate, was contacted by multiple sources on this matter over a period of four to six weeks, multiple sources contacted the committee via calls, e-mails and in-person meetings, all raising the same issue about samantha drafis being the senior counsel at the epa but her not being at work. the sources are former epa political appointees, current political appointees as well as current epa staff. we're told all sources that contacted the committee expressed similar concerns. so tonight 64 democratic members of congress signed a joint statement calling on scott pruitt to resign. that was before the new reporting from the ap about th

this is exactly how carper put it. this is what carper said to the epa. i write to request that the inspector general conduct an immediate review of the efforts to prevent fraud related to employee time and attendance including an investigation into potential fraud committed by scott pruit's political staff specifically the senator says i have been informed that ms. samantha dravis did not attend work or perform her do you haveties -- dutys for much of january 2017 to 2018 and i'm informed she was compensated as a full-time employee throughout that time. now we can report what led to this remarkable claim is that this committee, the environment committee in the senate was contacted but multiple sources on this matter over a period of four to six weeks, multiple sources contacted the committee via calls, e-mails and in person meetings all raising the same issue about samantha dra vvis about her being senior counsel but not being at work. the sources include former appointees, current epa political appointees and current epa staff. we're told all sources th

give your family the best and thank you for joining us. >> thank you, senator carper. i will introduce the rest of the witness panel and then we'll begin. in addition to ms. vehr and mr. garvin we have mr. sean alteri who serves as the director of the division for air ghalt tqua the kentucky environmental protection. mr. alteri previously served as the president of air pollution control agencies and continues to play a leadership role in that organization. welcome. we have mr. toby baker who is a commissioner of the texas commission of -- on environmental quality, first nominated by then governor rick perry in 2012. welcome. we also have mr. matthew rodriguez who serves as california's secretary for environmental protection, i want to thank all of the witnesses for being here. i will recognize our witnesses for their opening statements. as a reminder, your full written testimony has been submitted for the hearing record so ms. vehr, i recognize you for five minutes. >> madam chair, may i ask unanimous consent that the statement of mine be inserted? >> without objection

carper: mr. president, i rarely rise three times in the same day to speak, so this is a special day for me, maybe for the senate. but i want to assure my colleagues that the concern that many of us have been expressing today about the current chaos at the environmental protection agency, the nomination of andrew wheeler and actually andrew is the person who could predictably replace as e.p.a. administrator. but in any event, concerns that we've heard voiced today are not ours alone. editorial boards around the country, including those from newspapers in republican-leaning states, are expressing concerns regarding e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt's recent slew of ethical lapses. we're charitable and call them lapses. but these failings by mr. pruitt that andrew wheeler will be expected to address if he's confirmed by the senate. i can assure the citizens in all those states, the editorial boards of all those papers and all my colleagues here today that the environment and public works committee w

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 a

senator carper. >> mr.teri my mother has lived in kentucky the last two or three years of her life in this place called ashland. my sister lived in winchester night at chance to see her family. i love going to kentucky. to beautiful state and i applaud the reduction emissions that you talked about in your testimony. when our secretary sean alteri spoke he said, just repeat what you said. >> over 90% comes from outside of our borders. >> that sounds good. earlier in my life i served as governor of delaware. i had a conversation with folks from maryland and these are folks who made a living harvesting the creatures of the chesapeake bay. they have big gap spots--dead spots and their ability to make a living was diminished. they said to us we needed to do something about it. we said why? they said because it flows into the chesapeake bay carrying a lot of nutrients. when they cleanout chicken houses, poultry houses in delaware and some cases they were spreading them across farm bills for the value of the nitro

tonight senator carper got an answer from the inspector general's office. analyzing your request, we have decided to conduct the requested review. the issues raised in your letter are within the authority of the oig to review, and we will do so. we will inform you and your staff when we complete the review. and then i'll inform you as soon as i hear about it. watch this space that does it for us tonight. we le sue you tomorrow. now it's time because the news has hit us. and michael avenatti is going to be my first guess to talk about what may be, what history may see, as the moment when stormy daniels pushed the special prosecutor closer to getting fired than anyone before her has done. >> it is -- this has been a remarkable saga all along. obviously the news sort of blew up in the face of this today. i felt like the thing that this really brought home for me is that the president has really not put together an actual legal team on the russia scandal. he actually does have some real

carper: i ask consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: i don't know if our presiding officer was able to be present in the house of representatives earlier today, but the president of france, emmanuel macron, spoke to us about a variety of things. the paris accords, the iran deal, the long history that we have between their country and our country, the fact that the american revolution and the french revolution are contemporaneous and we shared a birth of democracy, our country and to an extent our country at roughly the same time. those who studied american history know that one of the ways we won our freedom and independence from the tyranny of that british throne was with the support of the french. and we have not always agreed with one another in the years since then, but mostly we have. and the bond between their nation and our nation continues to be strong, not just between our leaders but also between our people. we are fortunate to have a number of french tourists who come to our country. from time to time we're also f

did samantha dravis urge you to abandon the potential deal with senator carper? >> i'm just not aware. i don't know if you're speaking of the midterm evaluation or another issue. i'm not -- i'm not sure what you're asking. >> regardless of what the source of the -- i mean these are pretty straightforward questions about her and the three months she -- are you contesting that she did not work for three months? >> i'm not speaking to that at all. i'm not -- >> so i don't know what your point is about asking where it came from. i'm asking if she worked for three months without any -- she did not work for three months with pay. >> your question is about fuel efficiency and i'm not sure what the question was with respect to her regards. that's what i'm trying to determine what area you're talking about. i will say it this way, i'm not aware of any decision around fuel efficiency in that way. >> are you aware she was paid and did not work for three months? >> i'm not aware of any -- i know it's under review at this point and those facts will bear out. >> i wanted to as

meetings, and you'll see there, we met with congress woman napolitano's staff, as well as senator carperssenators harris, and senator feinstein. and we also had meetings with some staff directly. we met with department of labor, the national park service, and those -- i highlight those because while the primary focus of our meetings was really related to the seawall, we did have an opportunity to follow up on some additional issues, such as the wade survey that you directed the department of labor to have completed to our negotiations with the national park service and the alcatraz development. and we've also been -- had conversations with the national park service as it relates to historic tax credits for projects like pier 70. so we were able to have these very specific meetings to move forward the port's agenda. one of the most significant meetings that we had was again, related to our seawall project, and that is with the army corps of engineers. we were able to meet with the highest civilian -- highest ranking civilian staff person, director of civil war, james dalton, his staff, as

did samantha travis urge you to abandon the potential deal with senator carper?> i don't know of you are speaking of the midterm evaluation or another issue. >> regardless of what the source , these are pretty straightforward questions about her in the three months. are you contesting that she did not work for three months? >> i'm not saying that at all. >> i don't know what you're point is about where it came from. i'm asking if she worked for three months, she did not work for three months? >> your question was about fuel efficiency and i'm not entirely sure what that question was so that is what i was trying to determine, what area you are talking about. i am not aware of any fuel efficiency cafÉ or otherwise. >> are you aware that she did not work and she was paid for three months? >> i am not aware. it's under review at this point in those facts will bear out. >> i wanted to ask you also as i have a little time left about your vehicle. at the same time that the epa has moved to increase fuel costs for american households you have reportedly asked taxpayers t

committee, senator carper has been working on a real solution to do that. i think we can do that on a bipartisan basis, and i hope we will, mr. president, because this is a vote i think many will regret down the road. as this pfob chemical contamination becomes more widespread, and i can't believe, the fire fighting foam wasn't just used in michigan or a few states. it was around the country. and i think taking away the states' ability to be able to address that in their state is a very serious issue. so i would urge colleagues to vote no on this motion. let us go back and take another look at it and figure out some language that -- we just want to take vita out and do the coast guard bill, that's great. but if we want to look at the issues around vita -- and i appreciate the concerns around that -- let's do it in a way that makes sense for the people we represent. and the states who need to be able to act now. and certainly in michigan, this has become a huge issue around this group of toxic chemicals. whenever we vote, i believe it may be tomorrow, and th

senator carper is the cochair. we reported back in january something shocking, alarming, which is if you go online and ask about opioids, people say we are happy to sell you synthetic opioids for senator the u.s. mail system because it would get there without any concern because the u.s. mail system unlike private care require the advanced law enforcement to identify these packages. 50% of the people who died in ohio of overdoses by a sense of overdoses. other synthetic opioids. the county that comprises came out with a report from last year. 47% increase in overdose deaths. two thirds of those related to fentanyl. this is a huge crisis and it is amazing to me that we are allowing the united states post office to be able to continue to not provide the data they need to find a needle in a haystack. we introduce the legislation back in february of 2017. it is 32 cosponsors include a number of members of this committee on both sides of the aisle and i am frustrated as the chairman knows that as the staff knows we can'

carper: mr. president, we are here today primarily to discuss the nomination of andrew wheeler to serve as deputy administrator of the environmental protection agency. but before i turn to andrew wheeler, i want to spend a few minutes talking about our current e.p.a. administrator. recent reports of scott pruitt's unethical spending of the taxpayer dollars are unethical. i stood at the same spot where i stand today to discuss mr. pruitt's nomination. last february i said never before had i been forced to consider a candidate to lead the e.p.a. who had been so focused throughout his career crippling the very agency he sought to lead, were so hostile to the basic protections to keep americans and our environment safe. at the same time i warned our colleagues that scott pruitt, based on his record as attorney general of oklahoma, had an unacceptably casual approach to meeting obligations as a public servant. unfortunately, that warning fell on deaf ears. and in the 15 months since he was confirmed -