Ranking Member Johnson Urges Investigation of EPA Leadership
(Washington, DC) –Today, Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) sent a letter to Chairman Lamar Smith requesting a Committee investigation of senior EPA political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for potentially misleading Congress regarding the cost of H.R. 1430, the HONEST Act.
Bloomberg BNA recently reported that:
“EPA staff comments on extensive burdens linked to a controversial House-passed bill never made it to the Congressional Budget Office. That’s because personnel in the Environmental Protection Agency’s leadership circle quashed the comments, choosing instead to say there would be no burden whatsoever if the bill became law, current EPA officials and an email obtained by Bloomberg BNA say.”
Ranking Member Johnson said in the letter, “This is a very serious matter, and it deserves the Congress’s immediate attention. Each and every Member of Congress relies upon forthright agency comments to evaluate the merits of proposed legislation. If Executive branch officials are intentionally misleading Congress, then it makes it difficult, if not impossible, for Members of the Legislative branch to effectively do our jobs.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.
The Bloomberg BNA article can be found here.
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