MAZ18310 S.L.C.
115
TH
CONGRESS 2
D
S
ESSION
S. RES.
ll
Expressing no confidence in the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-tion Agency and calling for the immediate resignation of the Adminis-trator.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
llllllllll
Mr. U
DALL
(for himself, Mrs. G
ILLIBRAND
, Mr. C
ARPER
, Mr. B
ENNET
, Mr. B
OOKER
, Mr. V
AN
H
OLLEN
, Mr. M
ERKLEY
, Ms. S
TABENOW
, Ms. C
OR
-
TEZ
M
ASTO
, Mr. D
URBIN
, Mr. H
EINRICH
, Mr. B
LUMENTHAL
, Mr. M
AR
-
KEY
, Ms. W
ARREN
, Mr. W
HITEHOUSE
, Mr. P
ETERS
, Mrs. F
EINSTEIN
, Mr. M
ENENDEZ
, Mr. N
ELSON
, Mr. S
CHUMER
, Mrs. M
URRAY
, Ms. K
LO
-
BUCHAR
, Ms. B
ALDWIN
, Ms. H
ASSAN
, Mr. W
YDEN
, Ms. S
MITH
, Mr. S
ANDERS
, Mr. C
ASEY
, Ms. H
ARRIS
, Ms. C
ANTWELL
, Mrs. S
HAHEEN
, Mr. K
AINE
, Mr. B
ROWN
, Mr. C
OONS
, Ms. H
IRONO
, Mr. W
ARNER
, Ms. D
UCKWORTH
, Mr. L
EAHY
, and Mr. R
EED
) submitted the following reso-lution; which was referred to the Committee on
llllllllll
RESOLUTION
Expressing no confidence in the Administrator of the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency and calling for the imme-diate resignation of the Administrator. Whereas the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Adminis-trator’’) is a key position in the Executive Branch; Whereas the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Agency’’) is to pro-tect human health and the environment;
2
MAZ18310 S.L.C.
Whereas the Agency is vested by law with the principal re-sponsibility for controlling and abating pollution in the areas of air, water, land, hazardous waste, noise, radi-ation, and toxic substances; Whereas Scott Pruitt, as Administrator, has misused tax-payer dollars by spending those taxpayer dollars on ex-cessive personal conveniences and unnecessary office en-hancements while dramatically cutting budgets and staff for critically important enforcement, research, and imple-mentation activities; Whereas, under Administrator Pruitt— (1) the Agency is hemorrhaging staff and experts needed to protect the health, safety, and livelihood of mil-lions of people of the United States, with more than 700 employees of the Agency having left or been forced out of the Agency during his tenure as Administrator; (2) the Agency is seeking to shrink staff of the Agency by 3,200 employees (or roughly 20 percent of the workforce of the Agency of about 15,000), which would make it difficult to implement the mission of the Agency; and (3) top officials of the Agency have been granted permission to also work for private companies while em-ployed by the Agency, creating major conflicts of interest with their positions at the Agency; Whereas, by delaying the effective date of regulations, easing enforcement of existing regulations, and delaying imple-mentation of new regulations, Administrator Pruitt is helping polluters at the expense of the health, safety, and livelihood of millions of people of the United States; Whereas Administrator Pruitt has failed to exercise the en-forcement authorities of the Agency, which are necessary
3
MAZ18310 S.L.C.
to the fulfillment of the mission of the Agency, and has hampered career officials and experts from efficiently doing their jobs without political interference by issuing a memorandum that required regional offices of the Agency to first seek permission from Agency head-quarters before— (1) investigating potential pollution violations; (2) requesting information from potential violators; or (3) requiring additional monitoring from companies suspected of violations; Whereas Administrator Pruitt has continually overridden the recommendations of the scientists of the Agency in order to provide relief to industry, leaving in place the use of harmful chemicals, pesticides, and policies that are di-rectly impacting the health and well-being of millions of people of the United States; Whereas the Agency is expected to maintain and uphold unbi-ased scientific credibility, but Administrator Pruitt— (1) has undertaken actions directly counter to the science-based mission of the Agency by working to under-mine and censor science, scientists, and researchers; (2) has skewed the membership of all advisory com-mittees of the Agency by removing and barring highly qualified, independent scientists from those advisory com-mittees if the scientist has received grants from the Agency, while allowing individuals who receive funding from industry to serve on those advisory committees; and (3) is attempting to paralyze the ability of the Agen-cy to set health-based pollution standards by restricting the use of scientific research by the Agency unless that
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