Posted on 04/16/2018 1:01:50 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A $43,000 soundproof telephone booth that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt put in his office has caused federal watchdogs to speak up loudly.
On Monday, the General Accountability Office sent an eight-page letter to Senate lawmakers reporting that the booth violated federal spending law that caps the amount a presidential appointee can spend on upgrading their office at $5,000 without notifying the appropriations committees in the Senate and House beforehand.
GAO General Counsel Thomas Armstrong also wrote that the purchase violated the Antideficiency Act, "because EPA obligated appropriated funds in a manner specifically prohibited by law.”
The booth — which cost $24,570 itself with nearly $20,000 more in installation costs — is part of a major security upgrade that he ordered for his office that also included biometric locks and a sweep for listening devices.
Pruitt has already come under fire from critics for his 24-hour security detail and first-class travel, both of which have been justified with security concerns.
Pruitt's EPA officials, though, had argued that the booth served a functional purpose: To allow Pruitt to receive calls from President Donald Trump "without concern that classified, deliberative, privileged or sensitive information might inadvertently be disclosed."
Armstrong's letter, however, rejected that claim that aesthetics were the only purview of the requirement of notifying Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
The Cone of Silence?
Bet that busted the Chief’s budget!
I’m sure the GAO gave the Obama cabinet the same enema treatment.......
It never works anyway!
bizarre
Guess the Demonrats couldn’t listen in on Pruitt’s calls.
IMO, this goes to show how very bad the deep state is. Nonetheless, Pruitt should have followed protocol. I recommend he start a GoFundMe account.
Soros and the liberals are just mad that they don’t control the dictates at the EPA as they have for decades. There is likely a very good reason Pruitt needed this. Just look at what they did to his boss, Trump. You don’t think they wouldn’t tap Pruitt’s phone? Why wouldn’t they? The corrupt MSM would certainly cover for them. After all, nothing happened to Lois Lerner and her boss.
Obama collecting zillions of dollars from foreign donors that weren’t correctly monitored for source — silence is deafening.
Jill McCabe getting $700,000 payoff from the Clintons so her husband would do the “right things” on the Clinton case — deafening silence.
Bill Clinton getting $500,000 payoff from Russians for a bogus speech while his wife was SOS — deafening silence
Obama funneling $900 billion to his cronies via the “stimulus” deal — who cares?
$40,000 expenditure by a Republican, violating a $5,000 limit rule — UPROAR!
I prefer the portable cone of silence.
Why are CBO and GAO still dominated by Democrats despite the GOP control of Congress?
Note to future GOP Presidents. PURGE your departments, do not hold over anyone form the previous administration. They are always party over principal clowns.
$43,000? The Obamas spent significantly more then that on catering just the food for one party. Where was the GAO then?
The story is from NBC.. ( Nothing But Chit )
It's a VERY SERIOUS case of NOTHING!
My thought exactly!
What did you say Ben? I couldn’t hear you. I had the Cone of Silence deployed.
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