There’s one big reason Senate Republicans are standing staunchly with Scott Pruitt: Confirming a replacement might be impossible.

Even as the embattled EPA administrator faced another day of difficult headlines on Monday, there is no push from the Senate GOP to shove Pruitt out. Instead, Republicans are gently rapping him for his ethical transgressions and praising his deregulatory regime.


There’s no question that GOP senators are growing tired of defending Pruitt. But turning on him would likely backfire, as the shrunken Republican majority would struggle to confirm any EPA administrator, let alone another one as conservative and driven to overturn former President Barack Obama’s environmental rules and regulations.

“I don’t think that would be easy, let me put it that way,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

“I assume it’d be very difficult,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

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Pruitt barely got through the confirmation process last time — opposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) but lifted to a majority through the support of a pair of red state Democrats. Since then, Republicans have lost a Senate seat in Alabama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is recovering from cancer treatment, giving the GOP effectively a 50-49 majority that makes any controversial confirmation a risky bet.

“Anything is going to be hard right now at 50-49 to confirm, especially if it’s a high profile position,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader.

And now the midterms are in sight. Republicans are particularly eager to avoid putting the vulnerable Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) in the position of being the deciding vote on a new EPA chief in the mold of Pruitt. Heller has faced a backlash in increasingly-blue Nevada for confirming some of President Donald Trump’s nominees, and a vote on a conservative EPA administrator would offer Democrats another opportunity for outrage.

Apart from the political concerns, there are also practical ones. Senate Republicans are already facing an unwelcome trio of Cabinet confirmations that are all dicey on their own: Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state, Gina Haspel to lead the CIA and Ronny Jackson to helm the Veterans Affairs department.

There are also dozens of lower-level nominees that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is hoping to confirm over the course of the year. Adding a fourth Cabinet confirmation would sap time from the Senate calendar and Republicans of their political capital in a tough election year.

“Our most precious quantity is time. We’re pretty well booked. We don’t need any extra confirmations,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a McConnell ally.

Trump has mounted a strong defense of Pruitt, saying over the weekend he’s doing a “great job.” The president’s allies in Congress said that they believe Pruitt is safe, for now.

“There’s no vacancy yet,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). “The president has gone out of the way to say he has confidence in him. So I just have to assume he’s sticking around.”

Of course, ousted Cabinet secretaries from Tom Price to David Shulkin to Rex Tillerson know that the president’s support can turn on a dime. And Pruitt’s big problem is that the bad headlines keep coming. On Monday, the Atlantic reported on emails that showed Pruitt personally ordered a raise for an aide over the White House’s objections.

Moreover, he’s faced ethical and management criticisms from the early days of his tenure. Pruitt’s been hit for his frequent first-class flights, use of an unprecedented 24/7 security detail, spending $43,000 on a private phone booth and a $50-per-night lease on a Washington condo owned by a lobbyist couple, among other issues.

Those events prompted a federal ethics watchdog Monday to demand the agency’s top ethics official closely examine Pruitt’s behavior — and a mild rebuke from some Republicans.

“I don’t appreciate the way he seems to have abused taxpayer dollars,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

But supporters say Pruitt had made honest mistakes and deserves a second chance.

“He’s had a few troubles. It’s hard for anybody who’s a mover and shaker not to have some troubles,” Hatch said.

Pruitt has used his time atop EPA to launch a sweeping deregulatory push, beginning the process of wiping away Obama-era regulations on everything from power plant emissions to fuel efficiency standards to chemical safety rules for industrial facilities. He’s pushed to trim his agency’s budget by a third and overseen the reduction in staff to Reagan-era levels.

And he’s questioned the scientific consensus that human activity drives climate change, urging a scientific debate on the work underpinning that conclusion.

“I feel that my reservations about Scott Pruitt have proven to be validated over and over. And the policies that he has pursued are antithetical to the agency,” said Collins, the lone GOP senator to oppose Pruitt. Still, she would not say he should go: “It’s really up to the president.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, said he would refrain from judging Pruitt until the White House completes its probe into his activities.

“In terms of what he’s been doing, in terms of rolling back regulations and doing the key administration issues, I’m supportive of his activities,” Barrasso said. “We have a lot of other people that need to be confirmed. This is not the time to add another opening on top of that.”