UPDATED: Pruitt’s Response to Price’s Taxpayer-Funded Spending: Hold My Beer

Washington, DC -- EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears to be seeking to one-up Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price as he comes under fire for racking up hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on private plane use. CBS has reported that Pruitt has spent tens of thousands of dollars on private plane use -- including individual flights costing $14,285, $20,000, and $36,000 on individual flights -- turning down commercial travel and at one point, travel aboard Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s plane. It was also just revealed that Pruitt is spending nearly $25,000 on a soundproof communications booth in his office, and is using EPA criminal investigators as personal security guards for unheard of round-the-clock protection.

Today, it was announced that the House Oversight Committee will be launching an investigation into the private plane use by Pruitt and other Trump cabinet members, and Donald Trump wouldn’t rule out firing Secretary Price for the very same actions Pruitt is committing.

All of this is happening as Scott Pruitt is seeking to slash EPA funding levels to historically low levels.

In response, Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce released the following statement:

“Not one to be outdone, Scott Pruitt’s apparent response to Tom Price’s unethical and illegal expenditures has been ‘hold my beer.’ Holding the position of EPA Administrator is about serving the American people, not about personal enrichment and taxpayer-funded perks. If Donald Trump won’t take control of his administration and fire Scott Pruitt for his egregious abuse of office then Congress must hold immediate hearings investigating Pruitt living the high-life on the taxpayer’s dime.”