Political Quotes

“I rise to speak this afternoon about the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The day after Mr. Wheeler was named EPA Acting Administrator, I wrote him a letter. I reminded Mr. Wheeler of the opportunity he had to try a new course for that Agency after Scott Pruitt's scandal-plagued administration. Yet in the 7 months as Acting Administrator, unfortunately, Mr. Wheeler has so far chosen not to reverse course at EPA in too many important instances. In some cases, he has even accelerated the environmental damage and regulatory zeal that his predecessor began. I knew that Mr. Wheeler and I would not always agree on every issue, but like so many others, I did hope that he would moderate some of Scott Pruitt's most egregious and environmentally destructive policies, specifically on policies where industry and the environmental community are in broad agreement. Sadly, my hopes have not been realized. To be clear, Mr. Wheeler is not the ethically bereft embarrassment that Scott Pruitt was. Mr. Wheeler has also engaged more frequently and substantively than Scott Pruitt did with both Congress and EPA career staff, but time and again, Mr. Wheeler has proven that his environmental policies are almost as destructive and extreme as his predecessor's, despite the explicit promises Mr. Wheeler has made to Members of Congress, both in private and in public meetings. One of those promises was Mr.…”