Scott Pruitt the Chief administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under the microscope for travel expenses that seem a bit out of the ordinary. He has been using premium-class airfare as opposed to coach class standard meant for all federal government employees. The Oversight congressional committee issued a letter last week to Scott asking him to appraise the committee with air tickets for the whole of last year whether it was a coach, business or first class.
The House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy – South Carolina Republican Representative sent a letter on Tuesday specifically citing the explanations of Jahan Wilcox, EPA’s spokesman. Wilcox initially informed reporters that Scott had a blanket waiver to fly first class as a result of developed security risks in coach and business class.
Contingencies in Gowdy’s Letter
The letter clearly states that federal regulations require traveling government employees to obtain consent from their agency in order to use different accommodation classes when traveling on official capacity. He stated that federal regulations prohibit a blanket waiver to fly first class unless it is a special case of disability or special needs. As such, Gowdy was putting off Wilcox’s explanation to defend the EPA Chief.
Pruitt’s defense on the matter earlier asserted that his use of premium-class airfare was justified due to some security incidents he allegedly went through while flying coach with other passengers. Efforts by the Associated Press to question him on what happened were deemed unsuccessful as the administrator failed to disclose.
Wilcox who claimed that Pruitt received a blanket waiver then changed to say that the administrator was granted a separate waiver on each flight by ethics officials. The red flag on the subject was raised when the committee found out that Scott’s airfare expenditure is slightly higher than the airfare used by his aides triggering an inquiry into the matter.
On Wednesday, Wilcox stated that the EPA will answer Gowdy’s queries through the proper channel. The letter requested the records to be provided to the committee on or before March 6.
Scott Pruitt’s Defense on the Matter
In a statement he made during an interview with Hampshire newspaper, the administrator claimed that Americans now live in a toxic political setting especially around the issue of the environment. He added that they have reached a point where there is not much civility in the market creating some issues that force one to match the level of threat with the level of protection.
He also defended himself by stating that he did not purchase the tickets personally as it was the work of his chief of staff and the EPA security.
Scott Pruitt is the former Republican Attorney General Oklahoma. He was appointed to EPA by Donald Trump in 2017.
