Don't blow it, Congress. Confront EPA administrator Scott Pruitt on ethics abuses. EPA administrator Scott Pruitt spends like Louis XIV, ignores ethics rules and should be long gone. Congress must not waste its chance to question him.

Norman Eisen, Noah Bookbinder and Virginia Canter | Opinion contributors

Show Caption Hide Caption Dems: EPA's Pruitt new definition of 'the swamp' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer joined other Democrats in blasting EPA chief Scott Pruitt for purported ethical violations and favoring special interests over the public. The Democrats say he is unfit for office and ought to resign. (April 11)

When EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears before two congressional committees to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency budget, lawmakers should demand accountability for the ethics crisis he has precipitated at his agency. It has gotten so bad that the EPA’s own ethics officers and inspector general's office may be compromised or even complicit in questionable conduct. On top of that there are reports that Pruitt and his staff have engaged in a pattern of retaliation against employees who have stood up to them.

Congress must send a clear message to Pruitt and his boss, President Trump, that all of this is unacceptable.

Since these hearings Thursday relate to the budget, the questioning must begin with an inquiry into Pruitt’s extravagant spending, which more befits Louis XIV than the EPA administrator. Pruitt installed a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office, an expense the Government Accountability Office recently determined to be a violation of federal spending laws.

He has also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an enhanced security detail justified on the grounds that he has received unprecedented death threats. However, the enhanced security began immediately after Pruitt joined the agency, and an internal EPA memo reportedly concludes that the agency’s assessments of threats do not justify the enhanced protection. Pruitt should be asked how he can justify these extra expenditures in light of the evidence.

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Members of Congress should also demand that Pruitt explain possible violations of EPA travel policies and procedures for expenses associated with his use of first class and military aircraft for official travel. In particular, some of Pruitt’s “official” trips appear to have been scheduled in order to get taxpayers to finance his travel home to Oklahoma.

Pruitt may try to evade talking about these matters because they are the subject of an ongoing inspector general investigation, but that is no excuse. Congress has its own responsibility to conduct oversight and ensure that executive branch agencies are not wasting resources. Pruitt should be asked under oath if he undertook this travel for reasons other than the ones given, even in part.

Another critical area of inquiry: It appears that Pruitt and his top aides have been less than forthcoming with EPA’s ethics officials. He must be asked about the process that has led agency ethics officials to produce patched-together, after-the-fact ethics clearances. For instance, Pruitt leased a room in a condo from the wife of an energy company lobbyist at a rate that we believe to be well below market. After news of the lease broke, the EPA released a hurried one-page memorandum from an ethics officer claiming that the arrangement did not violate federal gift rules, then followed up with a longer memorandum narrowing the purported “scope” of that advice.

Then ethics officials were put in the humiliating position (for them and the agency) of walking back their advice when it became clear that it was based on limited information. Our watchdog group has demanded a wholesale review and investigation of the process by which Pruitt and other EPA officials obtain ethics advice, but Congress should demand that Pruitt explain why he did not seek advance permission; why the advice was rushed; how it was walked back; and what if any authorization remains.

Finally, and perhaps most seriously, Congress should also demand that Pruitt respond to reports that those who have tried to behave ethically at the agency have been disciplined. At least five EPA officials who have pushed back against Pruitt’s excesses have been reassigned, demoted or placed on leave. Meanwhile, an assistant inspector general was spotted having a drink with one of Pruitt’s senior aides. EPA’s problems run very deep if its whistleblowers are being punished while its watchdogs are cozying up to EPA leadership. Pruitt should be questioned in detail on his personal knowledge and involvement, and the reasons for any job actions.

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In any normal administration, Pruitt would be long gone. In the Reagan administration, the assistant secretary for Housing and Urban Development resigned after an internal investigation found he had made his staff work on his book on government time. In the Clinton administration, one White House official resigned and another was reprimanded and reassigned after they used the White House helicopter to fly to a nearby golf course. And in the George W. Bush administration, the director of what's now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives resigned while being investigated for a costly trip to London and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on his new office.

Even in this abnormal administration, some ethics transgressions have been punished. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was fired after travel-related scandals. There is no appropriate basis for retaining a cabinet secretary who has behaved like Pruitt. It is incumbent upon Congress to rigorously question Pruitt and get real answers.

Norman Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was chief White House ethics lawyer for Barack Obama. Noah Bookbinder, executive director of CREW, is a former federal corruption prosecutor. Virginia Canter, executive branch ethics Counsel for CREW, was associate counsel for ethics to presidents Obama and Bill Clinton. Follow them on Twitter: @NormEisen @NoahBookbinder VirginiaRCanter