E&C Dems Question EPA on Alaska Grant Funding Allegations
According to News Reports, EPA Withheld Grant Funding to Alaska After Senator Murkowski Voted Against ACA Repeal
Energy and Commerce Democratic leaders sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt today following up on reports that the agency put a temporary hold on all grant awards to the state of Alaska after Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski voted against legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The temporary hold on grants to Alaska reportedly slowed the award of grants totaling $10 million to tribes and to the state of Alaska's Department of Conservation. The serious allegations suggest an ongoing effort by the Trump Administration to use taxpayer funds to exact political retribution against Senator Murkowski for her vote.
The letter was signed by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Paul Tonko (D-NY), and full Committee Vice Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL).
"Grants awarded by the EPA are not political favors from the Trump Administration, but instead are critically important funding used by state and local governments, tribes, and other organizations to protect human health and the environment," the members wrote to Administrator Pruitt. "Reports that the Trump Administration decided to withhold federal environmental grants from the state of Alaska on the same day that Senator Murkowski voted against a major Republican health care bill suggests that the Trump Administration is politicizing the process of awarding taxpayer-financed grants.
"These deeply concerning actions are the latest in a series which suggest an apparent pattern and organized effort within the Trump Administration to use federal resources to advance partisan legislation or personal vendettas," the four Democratic Committee leaders continued in their letter.
As part of their inquiry into the allegations that EPA temporarily withheld taxpayer funds to Alaska, the members requested answers to a series of questions including:
- Did President Trump or any other administration official direct EPA to halt funding to Alaska?
- Please provide all communications during your tenure at EPA to date instructing EPA staff to halt, slow, or otherwise alter any grants to EPA's region 10 office or the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, or Idaho.
- Please provide a list of grants to the EPA region 10 office, or any grant recipients in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho which were halted, slowed, or otherwise altered during the months of July, August, and September 2017.
A copy of the letter is available here.
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