Sheldon Whitehouse actually said...

"Do you understand that the Senate has its own independent oversight responsibility here and that we are not an adjunct to the EPA ethics office?"

"Would you provide the Committee a list of the firm's pro bono work so that we can make an assessment of whether or not pro bono clients ought to be covered by the ethics pledge?"

"Well, that sounds like a no with regards to the Senate."

"I hope that these questions and the independent role of this Committee to do oversight is not something that is going to be overrun in the pursuit of getting these nominees in place."