Posted on 01/29/2017 9:59:13 AM PST by drewh
PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — When likely EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt walks into his first day at the office, “He’ll have 16,000 employees working against him,” Sen. James Lankford told a large gathering of libertarian donors Saturday evening.
“And I expect a flood of lawsuits over everything he does.”
Pruitt, who has been nominated to lead the EPA by President Donald Trump, is the attorney general of Lankford’s state, Oklahoma. He has faced fierce opposition from the environmentalist left.
Lankford, who chairs the Senate Oversight Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements, was joined on stage by Sens. Mike Lee and Pat Toomey. Their panel, moderated by Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips, was during a dinner on day one of Charles and David Koch’s libertarian Seminar Network in Palm Springs, Calif. (RELATED: Mike Lee Is Certain The Senate Will Confirm Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee)
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Of the three senators, Lankford was the only tepid backer of Trump, saying he would support the nominee and frequently dodging press requests to weigh in on specific incidents. Toomey withheld endorsement of Trump, though didn’t rule it out, and was a frequent critic. On Election Day, he said he was voting for Trump. Lee, who is a close friend of Sen. Ted Cruz and represents Utah’s quieter, more conflict-adverse Mormon Republican electorate, urged Trump to quit in October and declined to endorse him throughout the election. (RELATED: Three Republican Senators Kick Off Koch’s First Massive Donor Conference In Age Of Trump)
Called “A Time to Lead,” the meeting is hosted at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort and Spa, and is focused on local, grassroots initiatives Americans can take in what Hooks called “the key institutions of society”– “education, community, business and government.” (RELATED: Charles Koch Calls For Action: ‘We Might Not Have An Opportunity Again Like We Have Today’)
There are around 550 individuals included in the “principals” network meeting, which requires at least $100,000 donation to the network. In addition to these invited people, there are approximately 150 staff and speakers, Seminar Network spokesman James David told reporters. There is also a larger press presence than any previous conference has allowed.
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Editor’s Note: Christopher Bedford was a fellow at the Charles Koch Institute in 2010.
Tags: Charles Koch, Charles Koch Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Scott Pruitt Show comments
Make that 7500 people working against him. The first thing he is going to do is cut the staffing in half.
Afterward, they are welcome to work against him, but there is this little thing in the chain of command called “insubordination”. If substantially do not follow your supervisor’s directions, then you can be fired for insubordination, beginning with the career politician atop EPA that answer to the Director right down to the rank and file.
The way to Drain the Swamp at EPA and the VA is for the GOP controlled congress to change the civil service rules and make it actually possible to fire incompetents and malcontents.
All 16,000 employees may have to be fired before the infrastructure program and the energy independence Program can take place. These programs are much more important to the nation’s welfare than the entire EPA is.
Remember what Reagan did with the air traffic controllers?
Canada is welcoming all refugees. I think they should go there.
Absolute truth, and really all that needs to be said.
“A big RIF will do wonders for that attitude.”
I think people massively underestimate how workers will react when seeing a RIF in store.
The EPA people can chest-thump non-stop, thinking that their civil service jobs are untouchable by Trump...but of course they’re not. Congress sets the budget, and the Republicans there can do as they wish through reconciliation - the Dems don’t even get to veto anything. And there are a lot of Republicans on Trump’s side on this. Also, Trump can re-prioritize to some extent, even without action by Congress...kill of the Global Warming Desk and replace it with a “Regulations Review Desk”...and possibly tell the Global Warming bunch that their services are no longer required.
But then look at yourself as an EPA employee. Where do you go when the RIFs start to flow? The usual money-making river for these types of people is to work at the companies they regulated, as they are familiar with the rules they wrote...but now most of those rules are going away, so, so much for that. And I doubt their good looks will help too. They have to be REAL with themselves (and they will be), and realize that THEIR ONLY HOPE is to try to ride out the RIFs...which means kiss up and behave. Otherwise they’ll be lucky to get a job at Starbucks.
The environment in Alaska needs some serious protection. And that means staff onsite to administer the effort. Perhaps a job transfer of 10,000 or so to get sufficient staff. And the Prudhoe Bay area needs onsite protection in particular. Maybe 5,000 staff in Prudhoe?
So what?
If the King of the Netherlands says "every German on the Western Front will be fighting to keep the Allies out of the Low Countries" has he declared war on the Allies? Or the Germans? Or anyone?
No. In fact, he has not made a statement about his position at all.
You said the Senator declared war on Trump. Nope. Didn't. Also didn't declare war on behalf of the EPA. He made a prediction. (And, he is correct.) EPA employees can prove him wrong by doing what the President tells them to do.
The only thing that matters here is Trump's response. He can respond as George Bush did in his war against the Washington
apparat by doing nothing, essentially allowing the Democrats to remain in power throughout the eight years of his presidency, or, he can do what Reagan did with PATCO. I pray he does the latter.
We will see, indeed.
>>>Technically, they’re not fired, but it’s kind of difficult to live off a salary of $1 a year<<<
Just tell them they will be receiving the same Salary as President Trump, which happens to be $1 a Year.
Make examples out of some of them, the rest will get the message real quick.
Don’t really see what their issue can be. They all say we’re goners in the next few years anyway. Why work?
.
Send them all to the Park service, and let them manage the portapotty department.
.
Congress now has a rule that any congressman can submit an amendment to reduce a federal employees pay to $1. If the new EPA chief encounters resistance, he should ask for budget restrictions for these rebellious employees a hundred at a time.
After the first thousand, the rest will put a sock in it.
Lets see say a sheet of pink paper runs about .01 so that would cost about $160 plus ink....call it an even $200 to produce all those pink slips and save the country Billions.
Exactly! I'm sure there are plenty of folks who would love to work at the EPA under President Donald Trump.
Yeah, people like Langford are really dumb. Trump could just shut down the EPA, and then there would be zero opposition.
you cannot really fire them,
Get in, find out and get the important information that they have and take it.
Then shut down the entire department.
The only way to implement change.
Best bet is to get it down to under 500 employees then let the states each handle their own EPA issues. The feds could even give them a stipend to get started.
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