EPA changes its story on Pruitt's first-class travel

[oxbow]

Source: Politico

EPA on Wednesday retracted its claim that Administrator Scott Pruitt has received a “blanket waiver” to fly first class whenever he travels, after POLITICO pointed officials to federal travel rules that appeared to bar such arrangements.

Pruitt has been routinely flying first class at taxpayers’ expense after securing what EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox had described as "blanket waiver,” POLITICO reported Tuesday. But the General Services Administration says federal rules require agencies’ oversight staffers to sign off on officials’ first- or business-class travel "on a trip-by-trip basis ... unless the traveler has an up-to-date documented disability or special need.”

Wilcox changed his explanation after POLITICO pointed out that section of the regulations. GSA does allow first-class travel for security reasons, but only if agencies request a waiver for each trip.

"As such, for every trip Administrator Pruitt submits a waiver to fly in either first or business class," Wilcox said, amending the agency's earlier statement, which yielded criticism from Republican lawmakers and led Democrats to request an inspector general investigation.


Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/scott-pruitt-first-class-travel-347631

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More at link.

[Angry Dragon]

1. What a GRIFTER

[Skittles]

2. these are the people who think SNAP benefits are taxpayer fraud

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. lot of SNAP

It says Pruitt and staffers racked up $90,000 in early June for flights.
That would buy a helluva lot of food. Even if you assume 1/4 of that was legitimate, the wretched excess would *still* buy a helluva lot of food.

Deplorable, despicable, depraved, indifferent, amoral, sociopathic assholes.

[Cha]

3. Fuckers.

[Sancho]

10. The deplorables are professional liars...

and they have taken over our government.

[Cha]

11. And, we're living in a

freaking nightmare.. and all I can come up with is.. "Fuckers"

Sancho

[Roy Rolling]

4. Show me the waivers, then

Show the individual waivers covering each trip. Show them. That will prove they are liars when they said he had a blanket waiver. The media should make them publicly choose.

[DFW]

5. Because the front section of a plane is so much more secure than the rest of the plane.

Everyone knows that terrrrists lurk in the coach section of every flight on a long-haul airplane, and they are just waiting for Republican cabinet secretaries to show themselves before they strike.

Right?

[modrepub]

7. Paranoid

This guy has some real issues. Builds a "safe" room, hires his own security, rarely engages with other staff at EPA, secret meetings with industry, et cetera. I don't count this as arrogant. I genuinely think he thinks he's in some kind of danger. Probably could use a psychological profile done.

[DFW]

8. Trouble is

If that profile is done by the same quack that gave Trump a clean bill of health, the FAA will soon regulate that airlines pass out tin foil hats instead of cards explaining emergency procedures.

[HAB911]

9. He obviously has a documented disability or special need

"elite privileged snowflake"

[logosoco]

12. I'm sticking by the comment i made yesterday...

someone in charge of the EPA should actually CARE about the environment and NOT want to use a plane when they could do meetings by Skype. This is probably the case for many other departments as well.

Something tells me Pruitt is not actually going out to look at sites the EPA needs to be on top of (Like the West Lake Landfill here in St. Louis).

[paleotn]

13. So the first story was a lie

and we're suppose to believe the second story? These people aren't even good grifters. They're pathetic.