WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt faces potentially make-or-break hearings Thursday on Capitol Hill, where he is expected to be peppered with questions about spending and ethics scandals that have triggered bipartisan calls for his ouster.
Pruitt was scheduled to testify about his agency’s budget in back-to-back hearings before two House subcommittees.
The public grilling comes amid notable erosion in support for Pruitt among fellow Republicans after a nearly monthlong hammering of negative headlines about outsized security spending, first-class flights and a sweetheart condo lease.
President Donald Trump has continued to stand by his EPA chief, but behind closed doors, White House officials concede Pruitt’s job is in serious jeopardy. In the last week, a growing list of Republican lawmakers has joined the chorus of Democrats calling for new investigations into Pruitt’s actions.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Pruitt’s behavior has begun to hurt Trump’s credibility, as well as the Republican Party generally.
“I don’t mean to be too harsh, but you can’t just go around acting like a big shot, and you can’t go around seeing how close you can come to the line, and you can’t go around disrespecting taxpayer dollars,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “It shouldn’t be tolerated. That’s part of the swamp that we’re trying to clean up.”
Pruitt has faced a steady trickle of revelations involving pricey trips in first-class seats and unusual security spending, including a $43,000 soundproof booth for making private phone calls. He also demanded 24-hour-a-day protection from armed officers, resulting in a swollen, 20-member security detail that blew through overtime budgets and racked up expenses approaching $3 million.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said officials were “evaluating these concerns and we expect the EPA administrator to answer for them.”
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