Sheldon Whitehouse

And a tax expenditure of $1 has the same effect on the debt and the deficit as direct spending of a $1.

I do not think I have actually ever seen a sincere effort at regulatory reform or relief.

The problem that I have with some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is they talk a really big game about the debt and the deficit.

That is just, I think, an outrage from simple fairness.

I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield to the majority whip. ____________________

We have actually seen exchange premiums decrease in 2 out of the last 3 years, and that this has saved consumers nearly $220 million since 2012.

I'm a fan of and think they do good work at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

You'll be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You will be doing a lot of work to prepare this legislation...

I think that it's important--you know well that the reopening of the doughnut hole would be a legislative activity, not an administrative activity.

We throw this thing out at our peril if you care about saving Medicare, the savings to which are a very significant part of this $2.9 trillion.

It's like being asked to jump out of an airplane with no parachute but being told, 'Trust us, we'll build the parachute before you hit the ground.'

All of those groups and many others have gone very clearly on record that climate change presents significant health issues.

Our cards are up on the table. It's Obamacare. You want to improve it? Make suggestions. We've always been open to that.

I have been an Attorney General, too. I know the difference.

We have gone through the cases that you list as your environmental cases.

Given how many of these groups have important financial interests before the EPA, do you not think that 3,000 e-mails back and forth between you and your office and them are relevant to potential conflict of interest as an administrator?

Not very dedicated, if it takes 740 days. That is still zero.

I am not faulting that. I am talking about private meetings at the time that you were on the executive committee with some of the really, really big polluters with whom you have been very closely politically associated.

Are you denying that those private meetings took place?

And presumably, Mr. Pruitt, it goes without saying that if the EPA is going to consider cost to the industry of confirming to pollution guidelines it should also consider benefits to the public from cleaner air, cleaner water and the…

I think the Senate has a role in policing this as well, that the whole purpose of advise and consent... doesn't take away our Senate obligation to find out what conflicts of interest you will bring to the position of Administrator.

At this point, what I deduce from your statement is that if that set of hypothetical facts were true, if you had raised $1 million from a big energy corporation to go through the Rule of Law Defense Fund to support your efforts at RAGA…

Did you raise money for the Rule of Law Defense Fund, front entities that will appear before EPA as potential defendants in subjects of regulation?

That may very well create a conflict of interest, mightn't it?

Right now, the Chairman asked you a question which is, are there matters that might place you in a conflict of interest that you have not disclosed. You answered no.