whose shied is scott pruitt -- whose side is scott pruitt on? the children in his state, one out of ten who has asthma, or devon energy? and we want to put him in charge of the e.p.a., without even having a thorough understanding of what his relationship was with these companies. well, my colleague doing his own ex-us a stiff research about -- ex-oughtive research about the campaign funding he had received and more support from companies like this, it creates an implication. well, let's get to the bottom of what's happening. let's see the e-mails before we vote. what do these say to these corporations? i asked him. he allowed polluting companies to write e-mails to the e.p.a. on his letterhead. did he let any of the children with asthma or their parents write letters that he then just put on his letterhead? people who were suffering from the poor air quality. later the director of government relations at devon energy e-mailed mr. pruitt's office. this we do know, to sproas gratitude -- to express gratitude to the attorney general forge for sendi

did scott pruitt join that suit? of course not. pruitt ran to the defense of one of the world's largest corporations whining about how that corporation felt bullied. instead of working as the attorney general for oklahoma, mr. pruitt has served as the attorney general for exxon. finally, scott pruitt has the nerve to say that the cause of climate change is, quote, subject to more debate. more debate? we had that debate in the 1980's, in the 1990's, in 29000's -- in the 2000's. maybe mr. pruitt missed it, buried under a pile of big oil money. for well over a century, we spewed fossil fuel filth into our atmosphere, and, yes, this allowed the fuel -- it allowed us to fuel the thirsty appetite of our 20th century economy. but that blistering pace came at a price. our planet is get being hotter -- our planet is getting hotter. our coasts are threngtsed by fewer -- our coasts are threatened by furious storms that devastate our cities. our poorest neighborhoods are one bad storm away from being under water. our naval bases are under attac

somebody was using it to attack scott pruitt. but this picture had nothing to do with scott pruitt. this was the e.p.a. led by gina mccarthy. my response to the spill was that the e.p.a. should be held accountable to the same level in which e.p.a. holds private businesses accountable. i think that's a pretty good standard. but if the e.p.a. is going to -- they make sure that somebody lives up to a standard, that the e.p.a. live up to the same standard. that basic standard for the e.p.a. to me, because the agency called the spill, it simply must apply the same requirements to itself that it does to a private company. so it was with great disappointment but very little surprise that when the e.p.a. decided to not subject itself to those same standards they walked away from the promises that they made. sure the e.p.a. had standards under barack obama. they were double standards. the obama administration's e.p.a.'s refusal to not receive and process the personal injury or economic loss claims arising out of this spill at the gold king mine in southwest colorado is appalling. and i simpl

scott pruitt: i do know that. grants $4 billion per year. $84,000 to the university of michigan to study -- you will love this -- and effectiveness -- the effectiveness of using churches to promote environmental causes. $1.5 million went to the university of colorado to study pollution caused by residential cooking in africa. that is an important use of your tax dollars. and last but not least, a unitarian church received an soironmental justice grant, your baseball guy, right? myave had to use some of baseball's that these -- studies for this forum. oklahomaust a guy from , ricky metal. you're probably a huge fan of him. he was third on the home run your favorite baseball player, all-time hit record holder. all of comes to cutting the regulation, are you going to be more like the guy with lots of hits and undo it a bit of a time, or are you going to go for those home runs? scott pruitt: it is good to do both? hits him out of the park and move them down the field. i think it is both. there are some regulations tha

i will not vote to confirm scott pruitt. but i will say that if my colleagues move forward with this nomination, they can be sure that we will hold mr. pruitt accountable for decisions that hurt the health of new mexico families. that includes making sure mr. pruitt rights the wrongs inflicted on communities in the four corners region by the gold king mine spill. it's going to take many years to clean up the legacy of 100 years of hard rock mining and the impacts on our watersheds in northwestern new mexico and on the navajo nation. in new mexico we have saying, water is life. the water we drink and the air we breathe are not goshable. my -- negotiable. my constituents cannot afford to see the e.p.a. stop working to protect us from air pollution, to conserve our water resources and to work to reverse the damaging effects of climate change. madam president, i would reserve the balance of my time. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: is not sphrr montana. mr. daines: thank you, madam president. i can tell you that i

when scott pruitt was asked about critical issues, mr. pruitt said no to the public works committee when democrats asked our fellow republicans to delay mr. pruitt's vote until he got that important information, the republican leadership here said, no, we won't wait for that critical information so that all senators and the american people can understand who is being nominated. when i asked scott pruitt if he would recuse himself from all issues related to the cases that he has brought against the e.p.a. as oklahoma attorney general, scott pruitt said no to me. well, today we are here to respond to these very serious issues that are being raised about his ability to be an impartial administrator of the e.p.a. because the question before the american people and the senate is whether or not scott pruitt should be the administrator of the environmental protection agency and that answer is no. the e.p.a. is our cop on the beat, protecting the american people, and our environment from harmful pollution, hazardous waste, and the impacts of clima

scott pruitt, the attorney general of that state. his office and the top lawyer at the corrections department they decided with this execution date bearing down on them, they were going to figure it out. never mind the protocol, in every mind the rules. lawyers from scott pruitt's office and the corrections office got online and said they just started browsing around. they started basically randomly looking around online to see if they could figure out how long it takes for various drugs to kill people. these are not medical professionalings of any kind who have any expertise. i want to read you litally. wikileaks or whatever. i did my own research, i looked online, you know, what passed the key, wikileaks, wikileaks or whatever it is. that's where they say they found the information. they looked around online. the attorney general of the state is not supposed to be involved in a process like that. picking the actual drugs, that is not the attorney general's purview. nobody in the attorney general's office is expected to have any exp

eric lipton won the pulitzer prize for exposing in 2013, that may not have been a one-off lark by scott pruittarting to look like that may have been the way he regularly did business. in that 2014 award-winning piece, eric lipton reports on pruitt cutting and pasting language from an oil company called devon energy. in these new documents we just got, devon energy turns up again. they're not just feeding language to scott pruitt's office on air pollution, they're also offering to ghost write his letters to the bureau of land management. in another instance, here's a lobbyist for major utility companies offering language that scott pruitt should, quote, cut and paste, literally, the lobbyist says cut and paste, to complain about an epa rule. and this is a nice one. this one shows the american fuel and petrochemical manufacturer's association writing to scott pruitt, sending him language on a rule about ozone limits and mileage standards. and in this lobbying group, they spell out exactly what he should say, they write it for him, and they basically tell him they want him to pretend that those a

scott pruitt. the chair of the committee john barrasso suspended committee rose to move the nomination to the senate floor. this is 10 minutes. >> the committee is called to order. we are reconvening our business meeting to consider nomination of attorney general scott pruitt to be epa administrator. yesterday the minority members of the committee chose to boycott this business meeting. it is disappointing that they chose that course of action. we will not allow it to obstruct. as i stated yesterday this committee has conducted an extremely thorough and fair process of reviewing attorney general's pruitt's nomination. that includes hearing of length, number of kwegs and timely responses. it is unprecedented to delay for incoming president to this extent. we had an election last november. the people spoke and now it is time to set up a functioning government. that includes a functioning epa. to do that this committee has to do its work. so at this time i ask for a motion to suspend rules 2 a, 4 and

and the person who decides whether to release those records, the attorney general of oklahoma, scott pruitt, our nominee for the e.p.a. when democrats on the environmental and public works committee requested those records from mr. pruitt during his confirmation process, his answer was, and i quote, i would direct you to make a request of the oklahoma attorney general's office under the oklahoma open records act. there's something particularly strange about the nominee who controls the records saying ask e in my official capacity as a.g. knowing he hasn't responded to those requests year after year. he was telling the u.s. senate to get in line behind more than 50 other requests that had been made to him in his capacity as a.g. that he had not responded to. and then following up, senator whitehouse put in the request to the oklahoma attorney general's office using the oklahoma open records act, to add to that list of requests and you can imagine what the result was. the answer was, no response. we have still not gotten those records. but yesterday afternoon, oklahoma county district judge a

that one attorney general was scott pruitt. mr. pruitt said he didn't think that it was the appropriate role of the state attorney general to advocate for homeowners for their states but wanted to be sure to protect the banks instead. as a former state attorney general, i am here to say that the role of an attorney general is to represent the people of your state. when an injustice is committed to one person, an injustice is committed to all of the residents of your state. in fact, doing the work of attorney general over the course of seven years in california, i will tell you, mr. president, every time we filed a suit, that document, that complaint never read the name of the victim versus the name of the offender. it always read the people versus the offender because in our system of democracy and in our system of justice as a country, we have rightly said a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. mr. president pruitt has failed to a -- mr. pruitt has failed to appreciate the significance of that point. he has, in f

scott pruitt understands this will because he has seen it firsthand. as attorney general of oklahoma, mr. pruitt has spent many years being ignored and pushed around by washington, an experience that has taught him the need for the e.p.a. to work with and not condescend to the states. in his senate confirmation hearing, mr. pruitt explained why improving the relationship between the e.p.a. and state level regulators is the best way to protect our environment and uphold the separation of powers, that is the cornerstone of our constitutional system. he said, quote, cooperative federalism is at the heart of many of the environmental statutes that involve the environmental protection agency. the reason for that is that it's the states that many times have the resources, the expertise, and an understanding of the unique challenges of protecting our environment and improving our water and our air. we need a partnership, a true partnership between the e.p.a. in performing its role along with the states in performing theirs. and if we have that partnership as t

i too support scott pruitt. let me say, i think objective observers who watched his testimony would have to agree that it was an impressive display of knowledge and patience. attorney general pruitt demonstrated that he is intelligent, articulate, thoughtful, patient, and knowledgeable. and i think, because of that, he will eventually be confirmed. we are going to get through this. the people on the other side of the dais are friends of mine. i'm disappointed in them today. frankly, i was disappointed in their conduct during the hearing. taking a complicated issue and asking the witness to answer yes or no, yes or no, when we all know that those issues didn't call for a yes or no answer. putting up a poster of campaign contributors to the republican attorney general's association to somehow suggest that that in -- impeached the ability of attorney general pruitt to be administrator of the environmental protection agency. it was silly. it was beneath them. again, we will get past this. but it was a disappointment

scott pruitt was oklahoma's attorney general, and in that role, he's repeatedly sued the e.p.a. ein in regulations. democrats tried, and failed, to delay today's confirmation vote until pruitt releases thousands of emails with oil and gas executives. >> it's not the worst thing in the world to take a few extra days to properly vet someone who will have immense power over our nation's streams, skies, even the lead level in our homes and water supply. those emails could contain material information about his confirmation. >> government agencies like the e.p.a., and one after another, need their leadership in place, and they need it in place now. what they don't need, what the american people don't need is more political theater from the senate democrats. >> sreenivasan: pruitt was strongly opposed by environmental groups, who warn he will roll back enforcement efforts. he was sworn in this afternoon. we'll take a closer look, right after the news summary. >> woodruff: in pakistan, the military says it killed more than 100 people they call terrorists in sweeping anti- terror raids.

that's what scott pruitt believes. i would quote from a recent op-ed in "the wall street journal" which william mcgurn wrote in support of mr. pruitt but also generally in support of other nominations. but with regard to pruitt, mr. mcgurn says this, and i quote, the fierce opposition to mr. pruitt speaks to the progressive fear that he might help restore not only science to its rightful place but also federalism. and i think that's what scott pruitt is going to be about when he is confirmed tomorrow and finally gets down to working for us, the taxpayers, as administrator of the e.p.a. this is about the one-month mark in this administration, and we are slowly getting past this unprecedented slow-walk effort by our colleagues. i certainly hope with the 1,100 other appointments that have to be submitted and have to be spoken to by this senate, that we can hasten up the process so we can pass legislation and be about the business that our constituents sent us here to do. approving attorney general scott pruitt would allow

but i am deeply concerned that scott pruitt is a radical break

scott pruitt has said about himself. he describes himself as a leading advocate against the e.p.a.'s agenda on the role of the e.p.a., he says, i believe that the e.p.a. has a role to play in our republican forum of government. air and water quality issues can cross state lines and can sometimes require federal intervention. at the same time the e.p.a. was never intended to be our nation's front line environmental regulator. now that is kind of a well put together statement. but i want you to understand how radical of a statement that is because the e.p.a. was designed to be the nation's front line environmental regulator. the basic premise is that there are certain things that can be done at the local level that ought to be done at the local level. when we can figure our governments, we decided we want police forces and firehouses and other municipal services, sewer and water, right? and trash pickup. certain things get done locally. some things get done at the county level. some things get done at the state level. and

[applause] scott pruitt: we know what those are. we know that the previous administration, they took the clean water act and made puddles and dry creek bed the subject of the jurisdiction of washington dc. that is going to change. the future is not what it used to be. [applause] i think there will be some big steps taken to address some of those regulations, and some singles and doubles as well. >> you walked in that day with a lot of people wondering if they would have jobs. the number one thing people want to ask you is how much we cannot -- can be cut from the epa budget? people are suggesting we take it down to 90%. -- down by 90%. scott pruitt: i think in the near term, the most important thing we can focus upon at the epa is getting it all right. making sure the regulations that are posted and adopted by the agency are consistent with the rule of law and congressional mandates, and rollback those who are inconsistent from the previous administration. that is the work in the near term. long-term, asking the questions on how tha

i am writing to respectfully demand you vote no on the approval of scott pruitt for administrator of the environmental protection agency. it is extremely clear that pruitt is the wrong -- all caps -- choice to head the e.p.a. as someone with an extensive education in environmental sciences, conservation, wildlife and plant biology, chemistry, and physics, i am deeply concerned with pruitt's capabilities. a climate change skeptic with no formal science-based education, pruitt has zero concept of what it takes to make informed decisions about the current and future states of our environment. rhode island is leading the country in many environmental fields, such as renewable energy, environmental protection, and sustainable agriculture, and aquaculture. we can't allow a climate change skeptic with a love affair with fossil fuels to make important decisions regarding our precious environment and those working hard to protect it. i urge you to vote no on the approval of scott pruitt for administrator of the environmental protection agency. katherine white wrote in, i have a special concern

thousands more evil than failed to produce and are part of our ongoing set of aboutts for information scott pruittd the communications of his office with these industries, including devon energy, koch energy and more. amy: in 2013, a lobbyist from the law firm hunton & williams, which represents major utility companies, sent pruitt's deputy solicitor general a white paper and talking points. the lobbyist suggested that the staffer should "cut and paste" from it when encouraging other states to file comments on an epa protection aimed at addressing air pollution. >> right. you have that emailed i just came out as well as the emails that were discussed by eric lipton and his "new york times" story that won a pulitzer prize story in 2014, 2015. what you can see from that is this idea come and other emails, that maybe we should call him cut and paste pruitt. basically, the relationship between industry and industry groups are utilities and pruitt's office was so close, that there are numerous references to saying just cut and paste this and cut and paste that. that is not what we expect of our attorne

thing for current employees of an agency to do, but they did that to try to stop scott pruitt. ocrats have opposed the pruitt nomination for epa since day one. but yesterday it suddenly became a race against the clock, because a federal judge late in the day ordered scott pruitt to start turning over a whole bunch of documents. a federal judge in oklahoma ordered scott pruitt to start turning over thousands of pages of correspondents between his office and oil and gas companies from the time when he's been attorney general of oklahoma. that court order came down yesterday, less than 24 hours before the senate was scheduled to vote on him to be the head of the epa. because of that, senate democrats tried to postpone the confirmation vote, right? postpone it, at least until everybody can take a look at these documents that the court has just ordered to be disclosed. so, wait until everybody can look and see what scott pruitt said to those oil and gas companies that he's been illegally trying to keep secret for two years. can't we just wait until we see those documents, since they'

environmental advocates were quick to point out that scott pruitt, the oklahoma attorney general trump picked to lead the e.p.a., made almost the same move back home. pruitt closed his office's environmental protection unit not long after he took office in 2011. mr. president, how much time do i have remaining? the presiding officer: you have 14 minutes remaining. shatt-al-ara-- mr. schatz: but, mr. pruitt did more than close oklahoma's s environmental protection unit. he also closed a unit solely dedicated to suing the e.p.a. sets up a unit to sue the e.p.a. that is all they dovment the other unit that people in oklahoma might count on for water contamination or illegal dimping. with their help,s has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the a. he has sued the e.p.a. because of the way it tackles cross-state air pollution and the agency's limits to oil and gas pollution. he has sued to allow air pollution when facilities start up, shut down, malfunction, and to stop plans to address air pollution in his home state. he's sued the e.p.a. because he disagrees with the clean power plan

we are waiting to hear from scott pruitt, the new leader at the environmental protection agency. >> and in atlanta, georgia the cross roads of the south, the democrats, are they cross roads themselves. this is the dnc winter meeting where they are now trying to pick their new chairman. they have just finished voting for the first ballot on deciding who will lead them into battle against trump, the white house and the republican majority in congress. certainly they try and regain some seats in congress come 2018. we have heard a lot of fiery speeches for more than a half dozen folks hoping to become the next democratic national committee chair. jonathan who wrote things down so well at the beginning of the show, there we bring back in professor to explain what's going on inside the dnc meeting, how are you doing, sir? >> hey, there, this is round wasn't of the voting as we speak they are counting the ballots, paper ballots, i will have a little more on that later and also breaking news, indiana mayor announced during campaign speech that he's actually withdrawing his name of names, the f

his name is scott pruitt. scott pruitt has been beat up a lot by the special interests lobbyists and the environmental lobby. they put out all kinds of stuff about him. i would encourage them to actually meet scott pruitt and hear from him. scott pruitt has been passionate about the environment. scott pruitt actually likes breathing clean air. that may be shocking to people. but he likes clean air. in fact, he likes clean water as well. i don't know if you knew that or not. but scott pruitt has been a very good attorney general for us that has also been very focused on doing this one thing. what does the law say? let's do that. some of the pushback scott pruitt has had is not that he is opposed to the law, it's that he is not willing to push beyond the law, to be more creative with the clean water act, to be more creative with the clean air act. that's not the job of the executive branch is to be creative with an old law. it's to implement the law and to do it well. i fully expect scott pruitt to hold every pe

hypocrisy, the same standard they had for lisa jackson and for gina mccarthy they ought to have for scott pruitt. there's no good reason for it. to wait a few extra days to go over pruitt's emails is not the worst thing in the world. it's the smart and responsible thing to do. it's not the worst thing in the world to take a few extra days to vet someone that will have immense power over our nation's streams, skies, even the lead levels in our homes, our schools and our water supply. and we offered senator mcconnell to do another nominee today so we could still -- so it would not even slow down the process of putting in the cabinet. he said no. we know why he said no. my colleagues have made that clear. so let's think. senator mcconnell is going to come here in a few minutes and talk about the fact that we're holding up the cabinet. well, yeah. senator mcconnell and donald trump wanted us to have all those cabinet officers approved the first day we got -- first day after he became president. can you imagine what would have happened if we rushed through all of these nominees on day one? would we e

reports, controversy centers on pruitt and it's far from over. >> the nomination is confirmed. >> scott pruittfirmed to the head of the environmental protection agency. the same agency he fought against as oklahoma's attorney general. the confirmation coming as pruitt faces a new court order. >> the american people have a right to know what scott pruitt is hiding. >> a watchdog group filed a lawsuit to get access to pruitt's e-mail communications with the fossil fuel industry. thursday, an oklahoma district judge ruled pruitt must turn over 3,000 e-mails by next tuesday. >> he's been hiding information from the senate and the american people about the truth of the relationship. how deep his ties go to the industries that he would be basically charge with regulating. >> he's filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. and in his confirmation hearing, senators revealed, pruitt used oklahoma state stationary and signed his name to letters drafted by energy lobbyists. those letters then sent to federal agencies criticizing environmental regulations. democrats pushed to delay pruitt's confirma

the poster says why isn't scott pruitt convinced? scientists and doctors tell us that mercury is a harmful toxin. mr. pruitt has been part of multiple lawsuits against the federal environmental protection agency and i guess the protections offered by e.p.a. many of these lawsuits are against clean air protections. he's fought against a rule that reduces mercury and other air toxic pollutions in this country three separate times. three times. 1990 congress had enough scientific information to list mercury as well as 188 other air toxins such as lead and arsenic as hazardous air pollutants in the clean air act. lawmakers at the time, including me, serving the house of representatives, thought this action would ensure our largest emitters of mercury and air toxins would soon be required to clean up. unfortunately, it took 22 years for the e.p.a. to issue the mercury and air toxic rule which reduced mercury and other air toxics from coal-fired power plants, our largest source of mercury emissions in this country. the e.p.a. modeled this r

despite all of that scott pruitt was confirmed. we should expect more drama.cing that court order to release e-mail communications with the energy industry. his opponents are looking for potential conflicts of interest. >> the nomination is confirmed. >> reporter: scott pruitt confirmed to the head of the environmental protection agency, the same agency he fought against as oklahoma attorney general. >> the american people have a right to know what he's hiding. >> reporter: his confirmation come as he faces a new court order. a watch doug group filed access to get access to pruitt's communications with the fossil fuel industry. thursday a district judge ruled he needs to turn over 3,000 e-mails by next thursday. democrats and environmental group accuse him of being cozy with the industry. >> he's been hiding that from the american people and how deep his ties go. >> reporter: he's filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. >> in his confirmation hearing senators pressed pruitt for using oklahoma state stationery and signing his name on letters drafted by

senate has confirmed or is about to confirm scott pruitt to be head of the epa. told you there was one republican defection against mr. pruitt, but a couple of democrats have join his side, and the votes are being cast. scott pruitt will be the next epa administrator as a result of the vote just taking place in the u.s. senate right now. we will keep you updated. >> abby: a lot of things very closely at this hour, also keeping a close eye on president trump about to make some remarks at the boeing dreamliner debut, right now you can see the south carolina governor, but we are told the ceo of boeing will be introducing the president probably a few moments from now. we will keep you posted. >> jon: in the meantime, emergency crews in oroville, california, bracing for more rain, putting the region at risk for major flooding this weekend. that could mean more trouble for those living under that damaged dam. live from oroville with the latest, claudia. >> it has been coming down steadily all morning and repairs on the purple still weighs here at dam will be getting th

surrounding pruitt is still right in front of them. >> the nomination is confirmed. >> reporter: scott pruitt of the environmental protection agency. the same agency he fought against as oklahoma's attorney general. the confirmation coming as pruitt faces a new court orlando. >> american people have a right know what scott pruitt is hiding. >> reporter: a watchdog group filed a lawsuit to get access to pruitt's e-mail communications with the fossil fuel agency. thursday, an oklahoma district judge ruled pruitt must turn over 3,000 e-mails by next tuesday. >> he's been hiding information from the senate. and from the american people, about the true extent of that relationship. how deep his ties go to the industry that he would be basically charged with regulating. >> reporter: he's filed least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. and in his confirmation hearing senators revealed pruitt used oklahoma state stationary and signed his name drafted by lobbyists those letters sent to agencies criticizing environmental resignations. democrats pushed the vote to allow time to review e-mails. >> it's not

first of all i want to congratulate scott pruitt. [ applause ] >> it's going to be done in a very environmental and positive environmental way i will tell you that, but create millions of jobs, so many jobs are delayed so many years it's unfair to everybody, so i want to congratulate scott. thank everyone here today, we have a great group of farmers, home builders and county commissioners all representing standing along side of me, also jim inhofe who's been so terrific in so many yways, and great friend of mine john baraso -- one of the rules most strongly opposed by farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers all across our lands, prohibiting them from being allowed to do what they're supposed to be doing. it's been a disaster. the clean waters act says that the epa is regulate navigatable waters that affect interstate commerce but a few years ago the epa decided that can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer's land ta they decide, right? >> yes, sir. >> the epa regulators were putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands. and regulations and permits started treating o

ishat wha we'rebout to see with scott pruitt? >> hallie yesterday it was the finance committee so it was steve mnuchin and tom price for hhs. the republicans got fed up, they pushed it through anyway and it looks like that is what is going to happen here today for scott prosecute to head the epa. we have not seen any democrats go through this door where senators have been entering into the committee room. we did speak to john bar rasso, the chairman of the committee, he said he's going to force this through. we'll see how he manipulates the rules. he called it a employ that senator schumer is using to delay these nominees. this has been the tactic the democrats have takenin wake of the executive order over the weekend that sparked protests all over the country. we've gotten some questions to senators who have come by on those questions. i asked bob corker about that reported phone call between donald trump and the prime minister of australia that apparently got heated and that donald trump has been tweeting about this morning say

meanwhile, scott pruitt's nomination to be e.p.a. director. that's up for a vote as well in the environmental and public works committee. follow that over on c-span3. that vote coming up shortly as well. in the finance committee, democrats boycotted that meeting on monday. their consideration of steve muchein to be treasury secretary -- mnuchin to be tresh secretary and tom price to head the health and human services. and it was a 14-0 vote with no democrats present and voting. here's the chairman of the committee, orrin hatch, after that vote. senator hatch: my colleagues are using their own words as justification for their refusal to even vote on these nominations. as a result we are currently in the midst of the longest transition period without a confirmed treasury secretary in our nation's history. and the process for vetting and reporting dr. price's nomination has taken longer than that of the last two h.h.s. secretaries combined. of course democrat secretaries. at every turn my colleagues' arguments change but their answers are always

scott pruitt speaking soon. what more can we expect from him? >> scott pruitt, the latest member of the trump administration to showcase at this key conservative conference. it's going to be a very interesting moment because he's going to be the tip of the spear of what steve bannon said the other day was the administration's agenda of slashing regulations dismantle ing the administration state as the attorney general of oklahoma repeatedly sued a epa, the organization he now runs after it was cently confirmed because he saw the administration as overreaching, of trying to impose environmental regulations after the fossil fuel industry. this is going to be two facets, slashing regulations and i think scott pruitt is clearly a hero to the conservative movement. just because of his action on the environment in oklahoma. so, this will be a coming out party for him in some ways. >> all right. fascinating. we'll check back with you. thank you so much. all right, democrats are voting very soon. on the next leader of the dnc as the last five now candid

back on the hill this afternoon, the senate officially confirms scott pruitt to lead the epa, a department he built a career fighting in court. he has sued and fought the epa tooth and nail over regulations, particularly when it comes to fracing. we'll get into that. >>> finally, what do coal miners have to say about president trump after he signed a roll-back of regulations on mining waste and water waste. that's coming up as well. we have our panel of pros to walk us through all of this. we'll start by talking about this afternoon's main event, president trump's speech to boeing workers in north charleston, south carolina, the main topics there, industry, factories and defense. >> we're also working on the air force one project, which was a difficult project for previous administrations, but it looks like we're getting closer and closer. and we're going to ensure -- [ applause ] >> that our great service members have the tools, equipment, training and resources they need to get the job done. as george washington said, being prepared for war is the best way to prevent it. >> katy tur is e

next, why our guest calls scott pruitt the most dangerous man for the job.ll be right back. ♪ for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer. but there's important information for us: the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested for hep c. all it takes is a simple one-time blood test. and if you have hep c, it can be cured. be sure to ask your doctor to get tested for hep c. for us it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure. i realize that ah, that $100k is notwell, a 103fortune. yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who t

scott pruitt: we don't know. that is the difficulty with this issue.

welcoming scott pruitt. >>> pruitt was confirmed on a largely party line vote, but there were some cross. democratic senators heidi high camp of north dakota and joe manchin of west virginia both of which who are energy producing states voted for him while moderate republican susan collins voted against him. >> thanks very much. if you don't think russia is watching trump's every move, you're wrong. moscow is trying to needle him with a new taunt. he's spending another weekend working from his mar-a-lago resort. guess who is footing the bill for his security? that would be you and me. (mic thuds) uh, sorry. it's unlimited without compromising reliability, on the largest, most advanced 4g lte network in america. (thud) uh... sorry, last thing. it's just $45 per line. forty... five. (cheering and applause) and that is all the microphones that i have. (vo) not just unlimited. verizon unlimited. companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion. with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most ad