Senior Republican Calls for E.P.A. Chiefs First-Class Travel Files
Source: New York Times
Senior Republican Calls for E.P.A. Chief’s First-Class Travel Files
By Lisa Friedman
Feb. 21, 2018
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee — in a prominent instance of Republican scrutiny of the Environmental Protection Agency under Scott Pruitt — demanded on Wednesday that the E.P.A. chief turn over documents related to his first-class travel at taxpayer expense.
Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, called on Mr. Pruitt to detail all his government travel since assuming leadership of the E.P.A. one year ago. He raised a particular concern over conflicting statements from Mr. Pruitt’s press office about whether the administrator had a waiver to fly first class at all times.
“Clearly, federal regulations prohibit a blanket waiver to fly first class except to accommodate disabilities or special needs,” Mr. Gowdy wrote in a letter. “Instead, a waiver is required for each flight in order to fly first or business class when traveling on official government business.”
Mr. Pruitt has been under fire for his travel since The Washington Post reported that he routinely flies first or business class, and that he and top aides had spent more than $90,000 on airfare in the first few weeks of June alone.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/climate/gowdy-pruitt-epa-travel.html
