[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S422-S423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF SCOTT PRUITT

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, the question I bring to the floor 
today is what is Scott Pruitt hiding? Last week, the Environment and 
Public Works Committee held a hearing on President Trump's nominee to 
the Environmental Protection Agency. Today, for my 155th ``Time to Wake 
Up'' speech, I have unanswered questions about Mr. Pruitt's fitness for 
that role. His evasiveness at his hearing signaled nothing good about 
his ties to the industry he would regulate if confirmed, and the lack 
of curiosity about these industry ties from my Republican colleagues 
speaks volumes about the political clout of that industry.
  One question stood out. Our new chairman, Senator Barrasso, posed the 
standard question of nominees to Mr. Pruitt in our hearing: ``Do you 
know of any matters, which you may or may not have disclosed, that 
might place you in any conflict of interest if you are confirmed?''
  Mr. Pruitt answered: ``No.''
  Scott Pruitt crawls with conflict of interest. He has conflicts of 
interest with the fossil fuel industry from his political fundraising. 
We just don't know how bad. He likely has conflicts of interest from 
confidential private meetings with fossil fuel companies at Republican 
Attorneys General Association get-togethers, but we just don't know how 
bad. There is almost certainly evidence of conflict of interest in his 
undisclosed emails with fossil fuel companies, but again we don't know 
how bad. He came clean on none of this in his confirmation hearing.
  This chart is a simple, and a likely incomplete, representation of 
the many financial links reported between Pruitt and the fossil fuel 
industry. At the top are the companies and the entities that have 
supported Mr. Pruitt with political funding. Down below are the 
political organizations for which he has raised money.
  Pruitt for Attorney General was his reelection campaign. The 
polluters gave to Pruitt for Attorney General. Oklahoma's Strong PAC 
was his leadership PAC, a separate political fundraising vehicle. The 
polluters gave to Oklahoma Strong.
  There was another one here called Liberty 2.0, Mr. Pruitt's super 
PAC, but he closed it down so we don't list it. While it existed, his 
super PAC took nearly $200,000 in fossil fuel industry contributions. 
Mr. Pruitt served as the chair of the Republican Attorneys General 
Association in 2012 and 2013 and was a member of RAGA's executive 
committee through 2015. Between 2014 and 2016, RAGA received $530,000 
from Koch Industries. It received $350,000 from Murray Energy. It 
received $160,000 from ExxonMobil, and it received $125,000 from Devon 
Energy.
  Devon Energy, by the way, is the company whose letter Mr. Pruitt 
transposed virtually verbatim onto his official letterhead to send to 
the EPA as the official position of the Oklahoma attorney general.
  During his hearing, Mr. Pruitt refused to provide details about any 
solicitations he made from regulated industries for the Republican 
Attorneys General Association. We know they got special attention from 
RAGA. Here is a confidential 2015 meeting agenda from RAGA when Pruitt 
was on its executive committee. I ask unanimous consent to have printed 
in the Record the meeting agenda page.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

    RAGA Summer National Meeting 2015, The Greenbrier, West Virginia


                             MEETING AGENDA

       The Greenbrier; 300 West Main Street, White Sulphur 
     Springs, WV; (855) 616-2441.


                        Saturday, August 1, 2015

       A Cyber Lounge and Hospitality Suite are provided all day 
     for your convenience by Rent-A-Center in the Chesapeake Bay 
     Room,
       5:40 PM--Lead Shuttles for West Virginia Host Committee 
     Dinner. Location: Front Main Entrance of the Hotel.
       6:00 PM-8:00 PM--West Virginia Host Committee Reception & 
     Dinner; Location: Kate's Mountain Lodge; Special Guest: Homer 
     Hickam--American author; Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA 
     engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, 
     was a No. 1 New York Times Best Seller, and was the basis for 
     the 1999 film October Sky.


                         Sunday, August 2, 2015

       A Cyber Lounge and Hospitality Suite are provided all day 
     for your convenience by Rent-A-Center in the Chesapeake Bay 
     Room
       7:00 AM-10:30 AM--Breakfast (on your own); Location: Main 
     Dining Room; *Breakfast is included, please provide your room 
     key to the waiter. Please note: denim and exercise attire are 
     not permitted.
       11:00 AM-12:30 PM--AG Business Meeting; *Attorneys General 
     and Staff Only; Location: Eisenhower A & B.
       12:30 PM-2:00 PM--RAGA ERC & Capital Club Lunch: What 
     Difference Does It Make? Measuring the Success of Republican 
     AGs; Location: Chesapeake Room; Speaker: Attorney General Pam 
     Bondi, Florida.
       2:00 PM-5:30 PM--Private Meetings with Attorneys General 
     and Staff; *Attorneys General and Staff Only; Location: 
     Eisenhower A & B.
       2:00 PM-2:40 PM--Private meeting with Murray Energy: 
     *Attorneys General and Staff Only; Location: Eisenhower A & 
     B.
       2:50 PM-3:10 PM--Private meeting with Microsoft; *Attorneys 
     General and Staff Only; Location: Eisenhower A & B.
       3:15 PM-3:35 PM--Private meeting with Southern Company; 
     *Attorneys General and Staff Only; Location: Eisenhower A & 
     B.
       3:40 PM-4:00 PM--Private meeting with American Fuel 
     Petrochemical Manufacturers; *Attorneys General and Staff 
     Only; Location: Eisenhower A & B.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. This confidential agenda mentions a private meeting

[[Page S423]]

with Murray Energy. It mentions a private meeting with Southern 
Company, and it mentions a private meeting with American Fuel 
Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents a lot of these 
characters. Murray Energy, of course, is right there. Southern Company 
is right there, and the American Fuel Petrochemical Manufacturers 
organization, I am sure, represents the others.
  This confidential meeting agenda is all we have about what took place 
in those private meetings. I asked Mr. Pruitt in our hearings about the 
content of these private meetings, and he wouldn't answer any 
questions. He doesn't want us to know what was discussed there with the 
big fossil fuel polluters--companies whose pollution he will oversee as 
EPA Administrator.
  Pruitt was also a chairman of the Rule of Law Defense Fund. The so-
called Rule of Law Defense Fund is a dark money political operation 
that launders the identity of donors giving money to the Republican 
Attorneys General Association. As the New York Times said, the fund is 
a ``legal entity that allows companies benefiting from the actions of 
Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general to make anonymous 
donations, in unlimited amounts.'' It is a complete black hole of 
political cash.
  In the hearing, Pruitt refused to shine any light into the dark money 
he solicited or received from these fossil fuel polluters or others for 
the Rule of Law Defense Fund--not whom he asked for money, not who gave 
money, not what they gave, nothing. This is an organization that 
appears to have a million-dollar-a-year budget so someone was busy 
raising a lot of money. How much exactly, from whom, and what was the 
deal? Scott Pruitt doesn't want our committee or this Senate or the 
American people to know.
  Colleagues and I sent letters to the Office of Government Ethics and 
to the Environmental Protection Agency's top ethics official. Their 
responses indicate that their ethics rules predate Citizens United and 
its torrent of dark political money. Their regulatory authority on 
government ethics has not caught up with the post-Citizens United dark 
money world. Since their ethics authorities have not been updated for 
these dark money conflicts, if Pruitt doesn't disclose any of this 
information before the Senate, no one will know, and even those 
government ethics watchdogs may end up blind to conflicts of interest.
  That doesn't mean there isn't a conflict of interest here. What it 
means is it is a hidden conflict of interest. That makes it our duty in 
the Senate to examine those relationships, except for the fact that the 
fossil fuel industry now, more or less, runs the Republican Party, so 
there is a scrupulous lack of interest in this fossil fuel industry 
dark money.
  How badly does Mr. Pruitt want to hide his dealings with his fossil 
fuel patrons? An Open Records Act request was filed with the Oklahoma 
attorney general's office--Mr. Pruitt's office--for emails with energy 
firms, fossil fuel trade groups, and their political arms, with 
companies like Devon Energy, Murray Energy, and Koch Industries, and 
the American Petroleum Institute, which is the industry's trade 
association.
  Let me share three facts about this Open Records Act inquiry: No. 1, 
the Open Records Act request was filed more than 745 days ago--over 2 
years, 2 years. No. 2, Pruitt's office has admitted that there are at 
least 3,000 responsive documents to that Open Records Act request. 
Consider that fact alone for a moment. There were 3,000 emails and 
other documents between his office and these fossil fuel companies and 
front groups--3,000. No. 3, zero, exactly zero of those documents have 
been produced--745 days, 3,000 documents, zero produced.
  Think how smelly those 3,000 emails must be when he would rather have 
this flagrant Open Records Act compliance failure than have any of 
those 3,000 emails see the light of day. Given the important financial 
interests of these groups before the EPA, do we really not think that 
3,000 emails back and forth between him and his office and those groups 
might be relevant to his conflicts of interest as Administrator? Until 
very recently, Republicans had a keen interest in emails. Chairman 
Barrasso asked that important question: ``Do you know of any matters 
which you may or may not have disclosed that might place you in any 
conflict of interest if you are confirmed?'' Scott Pruitt answered: 
``No.''

  On this record, there is every reason to believe that his statement 
is false. Might having raised significant dark money from the industry 
that he would regulate create a conflict of interest? Let's say that he 
made a call to Devon Energy and said: I slapped your letter on my 
letterhead and turned it in as if it were the official work of the 
Oklahoma attorney general's office. Now I need a million bucks. And you 
can give it to the Rule of Law Defense Fund as dark money, without 
anyone knowing that it was you.
  Might such a quid pro quo create a conflict of interest in his 
ability to carry out the duties of EPA Administrator in matters 
affecting Devon Energy? It is impossible to say that it would not be a 
conflict of interest.
  Let's say that at those confidential private meetings with Murray 
Energy and Southern Company, something went on. Might something that 
takes place in private meetings with Big Energy interests that he is 
going to have to regulate create a possible conflict of interest? They 
paid to be there. They wanted something. Might that not give rise to a 
conflict of interest?
  And who knows what conflicts of interest would be divulged if his 
office were not sitting on 3,000 undisclosed emails with fossil fuel 
industries that he will be regulating as EPA Administrator?
  I challenge anyone to come to this Senate floor and tell me with a 
straight face that there is nothing that those emails could reveal that 
might create a conflict of interest for the man discharged with 
regulating the companies on the other end of those emails. ``No'' just 
doesn't cut it as an answer from Mr. Pruitt when there is still so much 
that he is hiding.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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