On the recordFebruary 16, 2017
The Senator from Hawaii is a very kind as well as a very distinguished individual, and he is willing to spot Mr. Pruitt's sincerity in the way he goes about his business. I am a skeptical New Englander, and I think Mr. Pruitt looks a little bit too bought and paid for to spot him that same degree of sincerity. But to the question of the Federal and the State role, to the extent that it was Mr. Pruitt's position that the EPA should not be on the front line, that it is actually up to the States to bear the bulk of this burden and to be on the front line and enforce environmental laws and protect their Senators, what about the conduct of the Oklahoma attorney general's office might give us some pause as to his sincerity in this being a federalist question in which the power to regulate should be enforced at the State level by strong attorney general enforcement as former attorneys general like myself know?
