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Dems blast McConnell for not delaying vote on EPA nominee
The Hill ^ | February 16, 2017 | Timothy Cama

Posted on 02/16/2017 11:05:39 AM PST by jazusamo

Senate Democrats on Thursday slammed Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for not delaying a vote on President Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and some colleagues have repeatedly asked McConnell to delay the vote to confirm Scott Pruitt, currently Oklahoma’s attorney general, while Democrats and a liberal group wait for a public records requested more than two years ago.

McConnell declined, Carper said, and the Senate voted 54-46 on Thursday — with all Republicans and two Democrats supporting — to move forward on Pruitt and line up a vote for Friday.

“In my gut, I feel that these emails — the nature of these emails and the entities with whom they were sent and received — will help us understand the truth,” Carper told reporters Thursday in renewing his call for a delay shortly after debate formally started on Pruitt on the Senate floor.

“My fear is that a number of members, especially on the other side, would be put in a very bad position, asked to vote for a nominee that they otherwise would not have supported, had they known the truth,” he said.

Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has pushed back against Democrats’ delay requests, saying Pruitt has answered more questions than any EPA administrator nominee before.

A judge in Oklahoma is holding an emergency hearing later Thursday on a lawsuit the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed last week to force Pruitt’s office to comply with their request.

The liberal group had sought, under Oklahoma’s state records law, copies of emails between Pruitt’s staff and representatives of various fossil fuel and conservative interests.

Pruitt’s office released hundreds of pages of documents last week, but CMD maintains that thousands of emails were left out.

Democrats said the decision to carry on with the Pruitt vote shows that the GOP is prioritizing getting Trump’s cabinet confirmed over transparency concerns.

“Clearly, this is an epic ram-job,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said.

He said Republicans “could not get enough” of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the emails of various federal employees they had investigated.

“But now, suddenly, emails between a nominee’s office and the major players in the industry that he will be regulating as EPA administrator, all they do is look at the ceiling tiles,” he added.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Pruitt’s refusal to give the Democrats the emails at issue is unprecedented.

“What Scott Pruitt said to our committee was ‘go FOIA yourself,’ ” Markey joked.

Two Democrats, Sens.Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), both say they will vote for Pruitt, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins(Maine) plans to vote against him, giving him more than the 51 votes needed for confirmation.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: confirmation; edmarkey; epa; scottpruitt; tomcarper; ussenate
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Good for McConnell, he hurt some obstructionists feelings.
1 posted on 02/16/2017 11:05:39 AM PST by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo
“Clearly, this is an epic ram-job,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said.

Libtards know all about epic ram-jobs of various kinds, including sexual. Time to give them their own medicine.
2 posted on 02/16/2017 11:09:37 AM PST by Enchante (Hoping the Clintonistas are gone from our public life forever!!)
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To: jazusamo
“Clearly, this is an epic ram-job,”

Yep, your turn to bend over and grab your ankles for a change.

3 posted on 02/16/2017 11:10:32 AM PST by Godzilla (1/20/2017)
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To: jazusamo
“Clearly, this is an epic ram-job,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said.

I think Rush said recently that Trump's cabinet appointments have already been delayed than at any time in history.

Obama's lousy, crooked appointments were rushed through without any effort to examine them.

4 posted on 02/16/2017 11:11:23 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Enchante; Godzilla

You both nailed it. LOL!


5 posted on 02/16/2017 11:12:34 AM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

They must be confusing TurtleMcConnell with NewMcConnell.
Happy to see the GOP leader of the Senate actually LEADING.
Keep it up Mitch!


6 posted on 02/16/2017 11:13:24 AM PST by Zathras
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To: Cicero

So true, The RATS are dragging President Trump’s nominee confirmations out with every trick in the book while 0bama’s pathetic nominees breezed through.


7 posted on 02/16/2017 11:15:52 AM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo
wait for a public records requested more than two years ago

And you want to delay hoping they'll show up in the next couple of weeks?

The stupid is strong with this one...

8 posted on 02/16/2017 11:16:11 AM PST by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: jazusamo
Mitch needs to tell carper that he needs to stop living up to his name,he needs to stop carping,shut up,take a midol and go away.
9 posted on 02/16/2017 11:17:59 AM PST by samantha (keep up the fight..)
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To: Enchante

It sounds like Sheldon is an “expert” on ram-jobs.


10 posted on 02/16/2017 11:18:01 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (As long as tyranny exists, the Constitution and Bill of Right will never be "outdated" or "obsolete")
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Go, President Trump!

Please bump the Freepathon or click above to donate or become a monthly donor!

11 posted on 02/16/2017 11:19:33 AM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

Good. The republicans have been entirely too accommodating to the unhinged leftist scumbag party. The republicans need to start acting like they won the election.


12 posted on 02/16/2017 11:20:35 AM PST by jospehm20
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To: jazusamo
“Clearly, this is an epic ram-job,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said.

After 8+ years of getting epically rammed, it's about time that the roles are reversed. It's going to take some strong efforts to undo all the damage that the dems have done to this country.

13 posted on 02/16/2017 11:20:46 AM PST by meyer (The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn't say what it doesn't say.)
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To: jazusamo
Pruitt especially needs to be moved through as quickly as possible, in order to get that rogue agency under control.

Go Mitch!

14 posted on 02/16/2017 11:36:09 AM PST by bassmaner (Hey commies: I am a' white male, and I am guilty of NOTHING! Sell your 'white guilt' elsewhere.)
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To: jazusamo

Elected Dems: “We’re furious with you for not letting us sabotage this administration! We want to destroy everything in this country because we didn’t get our way. We only represent our insane activists, not the citizenry.” {{{foot stomp}}}


15 posted on 02/16/2017 11:37:43 AM PST by Two Kids' Dad (((( More and More Winning! ))))
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To: jazusamo

STAY STRONG, McTurtle.


16 posted on 02/16/2017 12:05:50 PM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Zathras

“They must be confusing TurtleMcConnell with NewMcConnell.
Happy to see the GOP leader of the Senate actually LEADING.”

I suspect that the only difference between the old and the new is the fact that he now has a Conservative POTUS that will sign what he gets passed.


17 posted on 02/16/2017 12:20:58 PM PST by Beagle8U (Long live Yoga Pants! ( and boycott 84 lumber. Let's bankrupt the bastards!))
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To: jazusamo

‘Republicans ‘could not get enough’ of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the emails of various federal employees that they had investigated’

But those people had likely BROKEN THE LAW. The moral equivalency arguments by Dems are so specious. But their Pravda/Media will print whatever they say, with all their false implications, and the LIVs will eat it up. Disgusting.


18 posted on 02/16/2017 12:31:07 PM PST by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: originalbuckeye

I “blast” DIMs for being such obstructive lunatics.


19 posted on 02/16/2017 1:44:19 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation camp?)
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To: jazusamo

The Dims want to delay the vote until March of 2021 ?


20 posted on 02/16/2017 2:15:22 PM PST by TYVets
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