mr. pruitt. thank you, mr. chairman. >> we will now hear from the honorable scott pruitt, the administrator of the environmental protection agency. i'd like to remind the administrator, your full written testimony will be made part of the official hearing today. i look forward to hearing your testimony. welcome to the community. >> chairman barrasso, ranking member carper, members of the committee, senators, it's good to see you. it's been too long, as was mentioned by senator carper and i'm looking forward to the exchange and discussion today. as you know, i was confirmed by this senate in mid-february of last year and as i began my journey at the agency, i took the opportunity to spend time with the entire agency, and i did, in fact, senator carper, mention three priorities by which we would govern and lead the agency. the first was rule of law. and rule of law does matter. rule of law is something that people take for granted, but as we administer the laws at the agency, the only power that we possess is the

mr. pruitt. reducing carbon emissions is the result of smart vehicle emission standards, clean air regulations and our investments in clean energy, including natural gas and renewables. most of which your epa is now trying to weaken or repeal. you often remind -- you remind people that you are a former attorney general and you say that you, your quote, know what it means to prosecute folks. but under your leadership, epa has slowed actions against polluters. and though you have touted epa's recent enforcement successes, saying epa has collected billions of dollars in penalties during your time at the agency, you conveniently forget to mention that more than 90% of those cases are from cases prosecuted entirely by the obama administration. you say you're, quote, getting the agency back to basics, but actions like the one you took just last week, just last week to reverse critical prosecutions against hazardous air polluters show your epa is actually moving us backwards. all the way back, in fact,

mr. pruitt today. it has been a while since you've been with us and thank you for postponing your planned trips to japan and israel to appear before this committee today. the first time in more than a year i have a friend who when asked how he was doing said compared to what and sometimes he says compared to whom and i'd like to say how about your predecessor appear before this committee six times in two years. six times in two years. while your predecessor appeared 14 times and six years. fourteen times and six years. you can do better on this front and it is important that you do. today we not only will hear from you about how things are going at epa but also here tonight from president trump about the current state of our union so it's an appropriate time to look at the state of our environment. i understand that epa has been highlighting its achievements on posters around agency and we have a copy of one of those posters here. there we go. let's take a closer look at what is being celebrated as ach

mr. pruitt has received me on the eve of my departure for the u.s. and one message i got from pragmatic, need equal relations between the u.s. and the russian federation. ne should not forget that russia and the u.s. i permit members of the u.s. security council and two nuclear powers bear extra responsibility for maintaining global peace and security. therefore, despite all negativity, we should not shut off from one another. not look back at the past, but rather follow the strategic vision of our common goals. it is clear the russian and united states interests intertwine when it comes to the fight against global terrorism. there is a context within the russian and united states presidents on the sidelines of the asia-pacific summit in vietnam, in a joint statement of syria that our countries need each other. they are coordinating their efforts to defeat isis and achieve a stable political settlement in syria. we are united in necessity to address the challenge of nonproliferation of weapons of mass distraction. the fact that we have not reduced ou

mr. pruitt went over 20 hours. >> most went around that time, but it's been a full legislative day. it was a full calendar day. so that was a full day. so for instance a typical week on a lot of these you do three nominations in a week, maybe four or five in a week but then you don't get to any legislation because while you're post closure you can't bring anything else up. >> doesn't the -- the 30 hours aren't necessarily all used. is there another option here of saying you can have 30 hours, but if there's no actual debate or discussion after a certain grace period, nobody comes to the floor, then you can reduce the time, based upon no debate? >> you could actually force the issue and for any majority leader, they could come to the floor as soon as they're silenced and call for the vote. >> that can be done under the kurnt rule. >> that can be done under the current rule. and it's one of the things a majority or minority leader can debate at any point, but that's not something i'm going to do. but that forcing mechanism could be done under any expression of that. and by the way, it

mr. pruitt went over 20 hours. >> correct. it's usually a full legislative day. so while it may not have been 30 legislative hours, it was a full calendar day, and so that was a full day. so, for instance, a typical week on a lot of these you would do three nominations in a week, maybe four or five in a week. but then you don't get to any legislation because while you're post-cloture, you can't bring anything else up. >> but doesn't the -- if you're post-cloture, but the 30 hours aren't necessarily all used. is there another option of saying you can have 30 hours, but if there's no actual debate or discussion after a certain grace period, nobody comes to the floor, then you could reduce the time based upon no debate? >> so, sure. you could actually force the issue, and any majority leader could come to the floor and call for the vote. >> and that could be done under current rule. >> that actually dials up the volume even more. and i would assume it's one of the things the majority leader and minority leader can negotiate at any point i'm not going to do that or w

mr. pruitt has accumulative tens of billions of dollars in stolen wealth. he has an active and effective propaganda machine. he has tried to splinter the eu in key ways like internet trolls -- trolls crowding the debate on brassica -- brexit. he has been able to stall progress in georgia and ukraine through occupation. we have to acknowledge the effectiveness of these tools. to power inr. putin russia -- the use of these tools. these techniques were first theloped at home against russian people, and now mr. putin is using them globally. through our analysis, it became clear that several european countries stepped up to the challenge. for some in europe, the 2016 u.s. elections was a wake-up call that led to political resolve and action. for others, the threat of these russian tools have been present for decades, and they have organized accordingly. we have learned the asymmetric arsenal can be counted with the right mixture of political will, defense, and deterrence. the countries that have achieved success have one thing in common -- political leadership t

pruitt's industry ties? quote, he has elevated cronyism to new heights, end quote. governor kean's words, not mine. in an interview with huff post just this past friday, mr. ruckelshaus echoed this concern that pruitt cares more about his political ties than protecting the environment. he is just like trump, he said. he has an ideological approach to it, an approach that affects the large contributors in his party in oklahoma. here again, republican colleagues on e.p.w. might want to ask pruitt about his close ties with industry and whether he is working for the fossil fuel interests that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his political activities back in oklahoma or working for the american people. governor kean goes on to say that pruitt, quote, built his political career by attacking clean air and clean water rules, and that he is blocking scientific input, which brings us to science. science, of course, gives society its headlights to look ahead and see oncoming hazards. without science, if we ignore it or block it, as governor kean says pruitt is doing, the decisions we make are simply uninformed and irrational. and governor kean and i aren't

mr. president, it would be a route. it would be a route, and even pruitt knows t and the the reason it would be a route is because of the rule of law. the rule of law requirements of the administrative procedures act, the rule of law specter of judicial review, and the rule of law sanctions that courts impose for false evidence. certainly bob murray and his surrounding crowd of bad acting fossil fuel billionaires know how to throw their political weight around. we see everywhere the phony science denial apparatus they have created. we see their false and toxic message, even in outlets like "the wall street journal" editorial page. we see their lobbying front groups like the u.s. chamber continuing adamantly to oppose any serious climate legislation despite the contrary position of companies on their board of directors. american elections stink with their dark money and promises and threats. their flungies have now been -- their flunkie have now been -- but ultimately the polluters' drive put profit first above the health and safety of americans will face s