Sen Sullivan "seriously considering" hold on EPA nominees
NOT SO FAST: Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said Thursday he is "seriously contemplating" placing a hold on three Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominees until the agency further justifies the legality of its regulations.
Sullivan made the threat at a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing where three nominees for assistant administrator positions were testifying. He said the EPA has not responded to concerns from him and other Republicans over the agency's recent regulatory agenda.
"Do you think it's a legitimate exercise of our authority as the Congress, as the oversight committee, to put a hold on your nominations or confirmations until we get legitimate answers from the administrator on, for example, the waters of the U.S. [rule]?" Sullivan said.
Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said a hold might be the only leverage congressional Republicans have to get more answers from the EPA.
"Certainly, I can assure you that that's what I would do and what [Sullivan] would do and what the majority would do if they don't respond," he said.
The EPA finalized its water rule in May. An EPA spokeswoman said the agency wrote a legal justification for the rule into the final version of it.
The three nominees faced a mostly friendly hearing otherwise, and Sullivan said any potential hold wouldn't have anything to do with their qualifications.
"It's a rogue agency," he said. "They had nothing to do with it, but the administrator certainly blows off this [committee] and this Congress."
Read more here.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/244677-gop-senator-floats-holding-epa-nominees-over-regulations
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