The office of government accountability found that the EPA did not comply with the financial services and General Law, the government appropriation would notify Congress before spending more than $5000 at the phone booth.
In accordance with section 710 of this act, any Agency or Department, or a civil servant appointed by the President, shall inform the appropriate members of Congress before spending more than $5,000 “finishing, or repairing … or to purchase furniture or make improvements” to the office.
Yuri Gripas/ReutersEnvironmental protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt speaks during an interview with journalists in his office in Washington July 10, 2017.
The EPA “had a duty to notify the committees on appropriations of the proposed commitments,” GAO wrote in the report. “Without giving such notice, EPA violated the provision.
The Agency also violated another law, the Antideficiency act, spending “in the manner expressly prohibited by law” independent, non-political public authority, which is investigating the spending of taxpayer money on behalf of the Congress, and conclusion.
The report of the accounting chamber reported that their discovery is only focused on what the EPA notified Congress in advance, as it was obliged to do in accordance with the law, and not whether, in a phone booth was the best way to ensure a secure telephone line for the administrator.
“Because the EPA had not complied with the notification requirement, the funds were not legally available at the time EPA had incurred obligations,” the GAO wrote in the report.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters, FILEEnvironmental protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt speaks during an interview with Reuters reporters in Washington, Jan. 9, 2018.
Environmental protection spent more than 43 000$, to set in last year’s “safe phone booth” in the office of Pruitt, according to Agency documents obtained by the American oversight, a watchdog group founded by former Obama administration officials.
Pruitt told a congressional Committee that he needed the booth to make secure calls to the White house to discuss classified information, but he was unable to tell MPs how often he will use it.
The Agency had previously refused to publicly provide specific details about a private phone booth and whether it technically meets the requirements of the SCIF is a facility used for secure communication to discuss classified information. The EPA already has two SCIFs elsewhere in their headquarters, according to the gao report.
In a letter to GAO, EPA also argued that the cost of the stand does not need to comply with the law of the appropriation because it was not “aesthetic improvement”, but to facilitate Agency Business.
“Privacy booth in the same and other functional elements of the employee may be required to perform its duties, such as high-speed computer, high speed copier/scanner, or TV,” said Deputy General counsel wrote in a Memorandum presented on ABC news the environmental protection official.
The EPA also argued that the money for the stand came from the Agency’s budget that includes money for administrative needs and is used for maintenance costs in the headquarters of the EPA.
GAO found that the explanation was “incompatible” with the provision, according to the report, but did not give a judgment about the need for safe Pruitt phone booth.
“GAO acknowledges the requirement to protect classified material and does not make conclusions on whether the installation in the booth was the only or the best way for EPA to provide a secure telephone line to the administrator,” – said in a statement. “The failure of EPA in accordance with the governmentwide statutory requirement that the Agency notify the appropriations committees before it spends more than $5,000 for the office of the presidential appointee is the only legal issue discussed in this opinion.”
The EPA said in a statement that they solve the concern of gao and send the information to Congress this week.
The Agency concluded that the EPA must report violations, which will require a report to the President and the Congress, in accordance with Federal law.
As GAO and the chief inspector for environmental protection, the internal watchdog of the Agency, asked members of Congress to look into the cost Pruitt in “safe phone booth”.
The internal watchdog of the EPA decided to look into a phone booth, but has cancelled their request not to duplicate the audit chamber report.
The cost of security and Pruitt became a source monitoring the watchdogs and Congress. The EPA IG in the cost of protection Pruitt and his travels, including frequent first-class flights, which the Agency says was recommended by the detail administrator.
EPA said Pruitt need 24-7 security detail in response to the unprecedented number of threats against him, compared to previous administrators. But recently, members of Congress questioned the need for security.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, d-R. I., and Tom Karper, d – Delaware, said that they reviewed internal EPA documents that are found guarding Pruitt exaggerated the threats against him to justify the cost of his security detail and first-class flights.
The Chairman of the oversight Committee of the house Trey gowdy, R-ka, also requested interviews with the head of security and documents, Pruitt, explaining how the Agency justified its first class of flights and the need for more spending on security.
Gowdy said in an interview Sunday that he wants to know if the EPA is abusing the taxpayers ‘ money and questioned the fact that the first-class tickets required for security reasons.
“So the idea that I should fly first class because I don’t want people to be mean to me, you have to go to another job, if You don’t want people to be mean to you. How can a monk, where You do not come in contact with anyone,” said gowdy in the news on Fox on Sunday.
REM. Betty McCollum, d-Minnesota, member of the Committee on Appropriations of the house of representatives, which controls the budget of the Agency for environmental protection, said Monday that “there are a few more examples of government waste than 43,000 $telephone booth.”
“Now we know that the purchase was not just unnecessary and wasteful, but are actually illegal. The American people deserve much better than the culture of corruption, nepotism and incompetence that is pervasive in the administration trump and Pruitt EPA”.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
