[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3312 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3312

 To suspend proposed rulemaking signed by former Administrator of the 
 Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2018

  Mr. Merkley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To suspend proposed rulemaking signed by former Administrator of the 
 Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Scott Pruitt is Accountable 
Act of 2018'' or the ``EPA Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) on August 28, 2017, the Office of Inspector General of 
        the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in this Act as 
        the ``EPA OIG'') announced that it would conduct an audit of 
        Scott Pruitt, then-Administrator of the Environmental 
        Protection Agency (referred to in this Act as the ``Agency''), 
        for--
                    (A) the unprecedented and frequent travel expenses 
                incurred by Mr. Pruitt for travel to his home State of 
                Oklahoma; and
                    (B) the reliance by Mr. Pruitt on first-class seats 
                on commercial airplanes;
            (2) on December 6, 2017, the EPA OIG announced that it 
        would review whether Mr. Pruitt or his staff violated Federal 
        lobbying laws during a meeting in April 2017 with the National 
        Mining Association, during which meeting it was reported that 
        Mr. Pruitt advised the Association to encourage President Trump 
        to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement;
            (3) on December 8, 2017, the EPA OIG opened a review into 
        the manner in which the Agency decided to spend more than 
        $25,000 to install a secure soundproof communications booth in 
        the office of Mr. Pruitt;
            (4) on January 8, 2018, the EPA OIG began an audit on the 
        exploitation of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et 
        seq.) by Mr. Pruitt to give pay raises to 2 top aides, even 
        after the Trump administration refused the request for those 
        pay raises;
            (5) on April 17, 2018, the EPA OIG opened an investigation 
        into the use of a security detail by Mr. Pruitt during personal 
        trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl;
            (6) on April 19, 2018, the EPA OIG confirmed a probe into a 
        request from Mr. Pruitt for around-the-clock security 
        protection;
            (7) on April 25, 2018, the EPA OIG agreed to examine the 
        use by Mr. Pruitt of Agency staff for personal errands, 
        including--
                    (A) inquiring about purchasing a used mattress from 
                the Trump International Hotel;
                    (B) locating a particular lotion from the Ritz-
                Carlton Hotels; and
                    (C) seeking a Chick-fil-A franchise for his wife;
            (8) on April 27, 2018, the EPA OIG opened a review into the 
        rental by Mr. Pruitt of a bedroom in Capitol Hill, Washington, 
        DC, from an energy industry lobbyist for $50 per night, a rate 
        that is well below market value; and
            (9) on May 15, 2018, the EPA OIG announced that it would 
        look into the use of multiple email addresses by Mr. Pruitt as 
        potential violations of chapter 31 of title 44, United States 
        Code, relating to records management by Federal agencies, and 
        of the records management policy of the Agency.

SEC. 3. SUSPENSION OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING BY PRUITT.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Agency shall not finalize 
or engage in any rulemaking with respect to a rule for which the 
advance notice of proposed rulemaking or the notice of proposed 
rulemaking was signed by Scott Pruitt until the date on which the 
report described in subsection (b) becomes publicly available.
    (b) Report.--On completion of the audits, reviews, investigations, 
and probe described in section 2, the Inspector General of the EPA OIG 
shall make publicly available a report that describes the findings and 
conclusions of each audit, review, investigation, and probe.
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