WASHINGTON \u2014 An internal government watchdog says the Environmental Protection Agency violated federal spending laws when purchasing a $43,000 soundproof privacy booth for Administrator Scott Pruitt to make private phone calls in his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government Accountability Office issued its findings Monday in a letter to Senate Democrats who had requested a review of Pruitt\u2019s spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAO General Counsel Thomas Armstrong determined that EPA\u2019s purchase of the booth violated federal law prohibiting agencies from spending more than $5,000 for redecorating, furnishings or other improvements to the offices of presidential appointees without informing Congress. Because EPA used federal money in a manner specifically prohibited by law, Armstrong said the agency also violated the Antideficiency Act, and is legally obligated to report that violation to Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said the agency is \u201caddressing GAO\u2019s concern, with regard to congressional notification about this expense, and will be sending Congress the necessary information this week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EPA has said previously that Pruitt needed the privacy booth to make secure phone calls with President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials without fear of eavesdropping. It is among several unusual security precautions taken by Pruitt that are now under scrutiny, like his use frequent use of first-class flights to avoid unpleasant interactions with other travelers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Press first reported in December that EPA also spent about $9,000 for an outside contractor to sweep Pruitt\u2019s office for secret listening devices and installed biometric locks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, who requested the GAO review, said the finding was yet another example of the embattled EPA administrator flouting federal spending rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn illegal privacy booth to conduct secret discussions with his polluter friends does nothing to help our health or environment,\u201d Udall said Monday. \u201cScott Pruitt is behaving like swamp emperor rather than EPA administrator \u2014 he has shown a shocking lack of regard for public health and safety, ethics and fairness. He has been a disaster, and it\u2019s past time for him to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pruitt and those around him are under multiple investigations launched by government watchdogs and congressional committees. EPA\u2019s inspector general has at least five ongoing Pruitt-related probes, while the House oversight panel on Friday demanded interviews with five of the EPA administrator\u2019s closest aides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the issues being probed by EPA\u2019s inspector general is whether Pruitt\u2019s office properly used authority granted to the EPA administrator under the Safe Drinking Water Act to hire and give raises to a limited number of employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those who have received massive raises under that authority are two young aides to Pruitt he brought with him to EPA from Oklahoma, where he previously served as state attorney general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EPA senior legal counsel Sarah Greenwalt, 30, got a raise of nearly $57,000, bringing her salary to $164,200 a year. Scheduling director Millian Hupp, 26, saw her salary jump to $114,590, a raise of more than $28,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a combative Fox News interview on April 4, Pruitt insisted he didn\u2019t approve the big raises and didn\u2019t know who did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI found out this yesterday and I corrected the action and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting it,\u201d Pruitt said then. \u201cI did not know that they got pay raises until yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an unusual management alert issued Monday, EPA\u2019s inspector general said it had reviewed personnel documents for six employees who were hired or had received raises under the Safe Drinking Water Act since Pruitt came to the agency last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The alert said the documents were signed in some cases by Pruitt himself, while in others EPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson signed \u201cfor Scott Pruitt.\u201d Names of the employees at issue were redacted from the accompanying documents, though the raises granted to two of them appeared to match those received by Greenwalt and Hupp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats and a few Republicans have been calling on Pruitt either to resign or be fired since late last month, when media reports first disclosed that he had rented a Capitol Hill condo tied to an oil and gas lobbyist at the bargain rate of $50 a night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and typically a staunch defender of Pruitt, agreed that EPA needs to follow the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is critical that EPA and all federal agencies comply with notification requirements to Congress before spending taxpayer dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cEPA must give a full public accounting of this expenditure and explain why the agency thinks it was complying with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other Republicans have been more forceful in criticizing Pruitt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a Fox News interview over the weekend, House oversight chairman Trey Gowdy said he was especially troubled by Pruitt\u2019s use of security concerns to justify spending on premium-class airfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou need to go into another line of work if you don\u2019t want people to be mean to you,\u201d the South Carolina Republican quipped. \u201cLike maybe a monk, where you don\u2019t come in contact with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Government Accountability Office issued its findings Monday in a letter to Senate Democrats who had requested a review of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt\u2019s spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":40,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,33,9,40],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5744],"class_list":["post-23856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight","category-watchdogs"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GWFY6GUPRNEAROBAD6VRLXJCX4","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/watchdogs\/2018\/04\/16\/gao-says-epa-violated-spending-law-on-pruitts-privacy-booth\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n