WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), released the following statement on the letter sent to him by the committee's ranking member, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), and committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The Carper-Whitehouse letter directly quoted “law enforcement sensitive information" that “should not be further disseminated without the concurrence of the [Office of the Inspector General] OIG" of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or “without Secret Service approval."
“I am deeply troubled that members of the committee would publicly release law enforcement sensitive information regarding the safety and security of a cabinet member and his family," said Barrasso. “This letter selectively quotes non-public documents. Any reasonable reading of these documents supports the Office of the Inspector General's statements that Administrator Pruitt faces a ‘variety of direct death threats.' This is exactly why members should not publicly disclose information that relates to the safety of a cabinet member. It is also why this committee will not hold a hearing on this issue."
