pruitt. if my colleagues in the senate really want to stop pollution, we can start by keeping scott pruitt from going to lead the e.p.a. our environment should not be for sale, should not be neglected, and should not be turned aaside from being the core mission of the a. e.p.a. and i think we all should stand firm against the nomination of scott pruitt to lead that important agency. with that, mr. president, thank you. and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, it is an absolute honor to rise to speak in behalf of scott pruitt he has been a leader in the state of oklahoma and struggling to enforce the law in oklahoma as its written and as its consistent with the constitution. he's a statesman, he's a a dedicated public servant. as administrator of the earnings i fully expect -- as administrator of the e.p.a., i fully expect scott to be able to follow every law to do what's best for the present and for the fut

i too support scott pruitt. let me say, i think objective observers who watched his testimony would have to agree that it was unimpressive -- it was on impressive display of knowledge and patience. attorney general pruitt demonstrated that he was intelligent, and -- articulated, thoughtful, patient, and knowledgeable. because of that he will eventually be confirmed. we are going to get through this. the people on the other side of the aisle are friends of mine. i'm disappointed in them today. frankly, i was disappointed in hearingnduct during the . they were taking a complicated witness tosking the answer yes or no what we all know that those issues do not call for a yes or no answer your putting up a poster of campaign contributors to the republican attorney general's association that inow suggest that peach the ability of attorney to bel pruitt administrator of the epa. it was silly. it was beneath them. again, we will get past this. it was a disappointment to me. this action today by the democratic members of

pruitt's nomination. i would like to read two of the letters i have received. georgia is a ph.d. student at the university of hawaii. she wrote, quote, i strongly oppose scott pruitt's confirmation as e.p.a. administrator. mr. pruitt is a climate change denier who has actively worked against the mission of the agency. as a ph.d. student in science, i know we need an e.p.a. administrator that respects science an supports clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. pruitt is the wrong choice for our nation and must be rejected. end quote. kako also wrote to explain what this fight means to her. quote. this is not a bipartisan issue, but it is as much an american issue as it is a hawaiian issue, a human issue and as much as it is for mother earth. i ask that you be vigilant in the face of climate change deniers. mahalo for everyone living today and going to be born tomorrow. welch come too -- we've come too far over the past eight years to let someone like scott pruitt destroy the progress we've made.

whose shied is scott pruitt -- whose side is scott pruitt on? the children in his state, one out of ten who has asthma, or devon energy? and we want to put him in charge of the e.p.a., without even having a thorough understanding of what his relationship was with these companies. well, my colleague doing his own ex-us a stiff research about -- ex-oughtive research about the campaign funding he had received and more support from companies like this, it creates an implication. well, let's get to the bottom of what's happening. let's see the e-mails before we vote. what do these say to these corporations? i asked him. he allowed polluting companies to write e-mails to the e.p.a. on his letterhead. did he let any of the children with asthma or their parents write letters that he then just put on his letterhead? people who were suffering from the poor air quality. later the director of government relations at devon energy e-mailed mr. pruitt's office. this we do know, to sproas gratitude -- to express gratitude to the attorney general forge for sendi

pruitt -- mr. pruitt chooses to defend and protect the needs of the biofuel industry over the needs of our children? that is not someone worthy of representing the american people. that is not someone worthy of heading this agency. and, you know, let's just stick to mr. pruitt's own words, not the words of oh, not the words of my constituents, but in his own words. this is what he said about the agency that he's been chosen to lead. mr. pruitt describes himself as, and i quote, a leading advocate against the e.p.a.'s activist agenda. he said this on his linkedin page. we bein accessed this in januarf 2016. on the role of the e.p.a., he said, an i quote, i believe the e.p.a. has a role to play in our republican form of government. air and water quality issues can cross state lines and can sometimes require federal intervention. at the same time, the e.p.a. was never intended to be our nation's front line environmental regulator. unquote. this was his testimony before the house committee on science,

administrator pruitt and his maryland, arers, the devoted parents of two children. got to love those names. administrator pruitt, in addition to his years of experience in the public sector is also a successful entrepreneur. as a co-owner and general managing partner of oklahoma city's aaa minor league baseball affiliate, the oklahoma city red hawks, he's helped become one of the minor league leaders in attendance. so as you can see our new administrator has not only a record of public service but also business experience that will serve him well as he under takes his new responsibilities at our agency. of course i will leave it to administrator pruitt to share his vision and principles for his leadership at epa, but i would like to highlight just a few examples from his biography, some examples of how he has worked with others during his service in the public sector that i think will be of particular interest to you. as attorney general for oklahoma mr. pruitt worked with his democratic counterpart in arkansas regarding water quality in the illinois river which cro

pruitt's nomination. this is from all sources. i received 1,880 letters opposing his nomination. pretty amazing. we don't get these kind of volume of letters, e-mails or faxes or letters. 1,800 opposed. other the past three months editorial boards across the country have expressed their own serious concerns about this tpho*eupl as well. i -- nominee as well. i want to share a few of those with my colleagues and the world this morning. back in december "the new york times" wrote these words and i will read them. this is december -- a couple of months ago. had donald trump spent an entire year sko*uring the country for someone to weaken the clean air and clean water laws to repudiate america's leadership role in the global battle against climate change, he could not have found a more proper candidate. that is a pretty bold charge. it goes on to say that he is a an aggressively bad choice. again, the e.p.a. wasn't created in a law signed by a democrat, it was by a republican. the clean air act clean water ac

somebody was using it to attack scott pruitt. but this picture had nothing to do with scott pruitt. this was the e.p.a. led by gina mccarthy. my response to the spill was that the e.p.a. should be held accountable to the same level in which e.p.a. holds private businesses accountable. i think that's a pretty good standard. but if the e.p.a. is going to -- they make sure that somebody lives up to a standard, that the e.p.a. live up to the same standard. that basic standard for the e.p.a. to me, because the agency called the spill, it simply must apply the same requirements to itself that it does to a private company. so it was with great disappointment but very little surprise that when the e.p.a. decided to not subject itself to those same standards they walked away from the promises that they made. sure the e.p.a. had standards under barack obama. they were double standards. the obama administration's e.p.a.'s refusal to not receive and process the personal injury or economic loss claims arising out of this spill at the gold king mine in southwest colorado is appalling. and i simpl

pruitt as attorney general took over two years. so a few weeks ago when a lawsuit was filed against mr. pruitt on this very issue, the suit requested that he respond to nine open records requesting for as many as 3,000 e-mails. and as i just said, yesterday a judge said that he has to turn over those records, those documents and has to do so by tuesday. so it's not a long time to wait. it's not a long time to discuss the concerns that our colleagues have with this position. in fact, i'd be happy to come back on wednesday and make sure we have consideration then, giving people time till tuesday. but people are pushing us to vote for this nomination tomorrow. or i should say today at this hour. so what do my colleagues not want to see in the pruitt e-mails? what is it that they don't want to know? attorney general pruitt has been part of close to 30 antienvironmental legal actions. is that what they don't want to see? i know one of my colleagues has said he's going to make polluters pay. he's going to assure that these issues are imp

pruitt. a lot of questions. and she did not have enough time to answer the questions and a little bit of extra time, maybe a week or so, was granted. she answered the questions, as i understand it, fully, completely, directly, and i'll have to be honest with you. i'll read some of the questions that we asked of scott pruitt later today, later tonight, and with examples of the kind of answers he provided. some were reasonably complete, but too many were evasive, indirect or just nonresponsive. and that's -- maybe that's because the chairman only gave him a couple of days to respond. that's not the way we ought to do business around here. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and i see we have been joined by a former governor from the great state of new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i came to the floor today to oppose the nomination of scott pruitt to serve as administrator of the environment

pruitt this. how much does it cost to lose an organ like i have, to lose a parent or child from cancer? how much sick days and inhalers cost? families already struggling to make ends meet. many of these costs are not in dollars alone. thank you, sarah. sarah is a mother, a registered nurse. she wrote to me earlier this month to express her concerns regarding mr. pruitt's nomination. in her letter she explained to me that she was born in 1978 in western new york state, just miles away from the love canal neighborhood, the site of one of the most appalling environmental disasters in american history. for those who don't know, don't recall, love canal was a planned community that eventually had to be evacuated after 22,000 barrels of toxic waste were dumped in the nearby canal, 22,000 barrels. families whose homes were contaminated with chemicals and toxic waste had to leave. many faced serious health challenges later in their lives. these were the real threats we faced before we had the e.p.a. or la

pruitt. mr. pruitt intends to prevent the e.p.a. from protecting public health and the environment by reducing the budget by two-thirds. trump transition team member myron ebil made these plans clear. mr. pruitt will cut and then cut some more and then cut some more until the agency we trust to keep us safe is no bigger than when richard nixon was president. so what exactly should we cut? which aspect of public health in our environment are in need of less protection and research? well, let me tell you about some of the things e.p.a. has accomplished since its creation. the e.p.a. helps protect us from toxins. from 1948 to 1988, 30 million homes were treated for termite infestation with two related, very long-lasting chemicals, heptachloro and cordate. they're among the 12 worst known persistent, organic pollutants. a rogues gallery called it the dirty dozen. a long-time study found americans have these chemicals in their flood and their fat and the higher the level, the more likely a person is to suffer from dementia, type 2 diabet

pruitt. i hope this is not the new normal. we cannot afford for the epa to go without an administrator for the foreseeable future. this will impact future epa administrator nominees. these precedents for this delay will likely have long term impacts after today's nominee has left office. this boycott not only affects the epa, but also prevents this committee from organizing. no one can complain that the trump administration and its policies, if they sabotage the very formation of the committee that it is supposed to conduct the oversight. that is supposed to be condulting the oversight. there are a number of consequences to not having a fully functional epa and a fully function environmental and public works committee. there are key issues for the ep, and the senate epw senate committee that we could and should be working on, including the waers the of the united states policy, cold war legacy pollution cleanup, addressing brown fields and insuringing new t tosco legislation. this boycott is

pruitt's office? no. in in instance good investigative journalism determined the comment expressing fracking having any effect on water quality was written by a company, pasted on to official oklahoma letterhead and submitted to the e.p.a. as representing the views of oklahoma officials. would it be appropriate as the attorney general of oklahoma that has significant oil and gas to take into account the view of oil and gas producers on something as important as fracking? absolutely. in fact, you would not be doing your job if you didn't take the views of those companies into account. but considering industry views is very different than taking their views and portraying them as coming from you, a holder of a public trust. you're supposed to be working for everybody and not just one company or one industry. mr. president, here's one more example i'll give you before i conclude because i take it personally. virginia is one of the six states in the chesapeake bay watershed, and i worked on this matter as gov

pruitt, 14 republicans for, 45 democrats against. puzder, no republicans for, only three democrats got a chance, fortunately, to show who mr. puzder is. tillerson, six republicans for. democrats, 27 against. they don't want sunlight on this cabinet. they want to rush it. we have gone america, senator mcconnell, we have done america a service by showing who these people are and now every time betsy devos tries to hurt public education, the american eople will have their eye on her. when senator price decides to gut health care -- secretary price now decides to gut health care, the american people will have their eyes on him. on issue after issue, the american people are learning not only who this cabinet is but who donald trump really is norkts the donald trump who campaign -- really is, not the donald trump who campaigned for people, campaigned for people and said he was for the working people in the campaign. his broken promises just in this cabinet alone are legion. >> so we're open to some questions. reporter: what do you think yo

scott pruitt. the chair of the committee john barrasso suspended committee rose to move the nomination to the senate floor. this is 10 minutes. >> the committee is called to order. we are reconvening our business meeting to consider nomination of attorney general scott pruitt to be epa administrator. yesterday the minority members of the committee chose to boycott this business meeting. it is disappointing that they chose that course of action. we will not allow it to obstruct. as i stated yesterday this committee has conducted an extremely thorough and fair process of reviewing attorney general's pruitt's nomination. that includes hearing of length, number of kwegs and timely responses. it is unprecedented to delay for incoming president to this extent. we had an election last november. the people spoke and now it is time to set up a functioning government. that includes a functioning epa. to do that this committee has to do its work. so at this time i ask for a motion to suspend rules 2 a, 4 and

good thing you rushed the vote on scott pruitt. if scott pruitt does end up taking fall because of this growing scandal around him, he will be falling for a much greater height because of the way republicans rushed him into the cabinet. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. >>> shannon, shannon, shannon glenn, this is not a tv program. shannon, you don't just get to yell out. we are going to have you sit down like big boys and girls. >> glenn, glenn, who here hates glenn? that shows that everybody raised their hands because everybody hates glenn. >> it was a slow of unity at cpac. steve bannon and reince priebus denied reports of

good thing you rushed the vote on scott pruitt. if scott pruitt does end up taking fall because of this growing scandal around him, he will be falling for a much greater height because of the way republicans rushed him into the cabinet. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> rachel, i have worked on tv dramas where we have tried to write cliff hangers at the end of a particular season or episode, but the cliff hanger you just left us is better than anything we could come up with in tv drama. >> and when the republicans decided they were just going to put a brick on the gas pedal and jump out of the car, they could see the cliff and they did this an

scott pruitt: i do know that. grants $4 billion per year. $84,000 to the university of michigan to study -- you will love this -- and effectiveness -- the effectiveness of using churches to promote environmental causes. $1.5 million went to the university of colorado to study pollution caused by residential cooking in africa. that is an important use of your tax dollars. and last but not least, a unitarian church received an soironmental justice grant, your baseball guy, right? myave had to use some of baseball's that these -- studies for this forum. oklahomaust a guy from , ricky metal. you're probably a huge fan of him. he was third on the home run your favorite baseball player, all-time hit record holder. all of comes to cutting the regulation, are you going to be more like the guy with lots of hits and undo it a bit of a time, or are you going to go for those home runs? scott pruitt: it is good to do both? hits him out of the park and move them down the field. i think it is both. there are some regulations tha

we will have more on scott pruitt's emails after headlines. we will speak with lisa graves, which successfully sued for the mess release. the supreme court overturned the death sentence of a texas prisoner wednesday after ruling his own defense team presented a jury with racist comments. duane buck was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend in 1996. at his trial, a state psychologist called by the defense testified that , african-american criminals are more likely to pose a future danger to the public. writing for the majority in a 6-2 decision, chief justice john roberts ruled -- "the testimony appealed to a powerful racial stereotypethat of black men as 'violence prone.'" in anaheim, california, video has emerged of an off-duty police officer grabbing a 13-year-old boy by his hoodie and restraining him before drawing a pistol and firing a single shot. no one was injured in tuesday's incident, which was captured on a cell phone video that went viral on social media. the video shows a man in plain clothes holding a boy against his will,

pruitt. i urge my colleagues to do the same. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? mr. schumer: would the senator from indiana like to make a unanimous consent request? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. a senator: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of all nominations on the secretary's desk, that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york, the minority leader. mr. schumer: i ask of the postcloture debate time under my control that 60 minutes be yielded to senator schatz, 60 minutes be yielded to sena

scott pruitt, the attorney general of that state. his office and the top lawyer at the corrections department they decided with this execution date bearing down on them, they were going to figure it out. never mind the protocol, in every mind the rules. lawyers from scott pruitt's office and the corrections office got online and said they just started browsing around. they started basically randomly looking around online to see if they could figure out how long it takes for various drugs to kill people. these are not medical professionalings of any kind who have any expertise. i want to read you litally. wikileaks or whatever. i did my own research, i looked online, you know, what passed the key, wikileaks, wikileaks or whatever it is. that's where they say they found the information. they looked around online. the attorney general of the state is not supposed to be involved in a process like that. picking the actual drugs, that is not the attorney general's purview. nobody in the attorney general's office is expected to have any exp

pruitt's record. the competitive enterprise institute is in some ways funded by the fossil fuel industry, but scott pruitt was a friend to the fossil fuel industry, to put it mildly, in oklahoma. there is a famous incident of him basically copy-pasting an email or concern directly from the e.p.a. at the hearings he said he understands it is an incredibly important job especially when it comes to the rule in regulating co2. >> jeremy mentioned the 14 lawsuits. i'm proud my organization is a co-playoff with attorney general scott pruitt in several of these lawsuits. these are meant to shrink e.p.a.'s overreach, its illegal regulatory overreach. i think, when you look at oklahoma, oklahoma is a big oil and gas producer. they're proud of it. they produce the energy we use. of course, scott pruitt supports that industry. it's oklahoma's major industry, and it helps the entire nation. so i think, if you look back at what president trump said in the campaign, he said, i want to get rid of the regulatory ramp

i am honored to have the opportunity today to present to you our new administrator scott pruitt. give him another round. [ applause ] >> as you know, administrator pruitt comes to us from the state of oklahoma where most recently he's been the attorney general. prior to his service as attorney general administrator pruitt was in the state senate of oklahoma for eight years. he originally held from the state of kentucky. he earned his bachelors degree from georgetown college in kentucky then moved to oklahoma where he garage a waraduated fr law school, before he practiced law for a private firm in tulsa oklahoma, administrator pruitt and his wife of 27 years marilyn are the devoted parents of two children mckenna and son katie, got to love those names, in addition to his years of experience in the public sector is also a successful entrepreneur. as a co-owner and general managing partner of oklahoma city's aaa minor league baseball league affiliate red hawks he's helped become one of the minor league leaders in attendance, so as you can see our new administrator has not only a rec

pruitt: thanks, catherine. thank you so much. [applause] mr. pruitt: well, thank you, catherine. it has been a joy to meet catherine and spend time with her. i do thank you for the hat. i'm excited about being in a city that actually has a major league baseball team because that's going to be exciting in the evening to enjoy some good baseball and i'll make sure i wear this hat as we attend those games. and the parent club of my aaa team was the texas rangers, so during the american league we're going to be ok to cheer for the nationals for the national league, so excited about that. it's been an honor and joy to be with you this morning. i've gotten a chance to meet with some of you and as i spent time with you this morning it was abundantly clear to me that you love what you do. there's an old saying that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. so i want to say thank you for catherine, for her leadership the last month and a half or so, it took a while to get here, but thank you for that. and i want to say thank you for those who have served this for quite s

what scott pruitt is hiding. >> a watchdog group filed a lawsuit to get access to pruitt's e-mail communications with the fossil fuel industry. thursday, an oklahoma district judge ruled pruitt must turn over 3,000 e-mails by next tuesday. >> he's been hiding information from the senate and the american people about the truth of the relationship. how deep his ties go to the industries that he would be basically charge with regulating. >> he's filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. and in his confirmation hearing, senators revealed, pruitt used oklahoma state stationary and signed his name to letters drafted by energy lobbyists. those letters then sent to federal agencies criticizing environmental regulations. democrats pushed to delay pruitt's confirmation vote time to allow review of the e-mails. >> it's not the worst thing in the world to properly vet someone who will have immense power. >> but senate republicans refuse to delay. >> with they want to move him slowly as possible and the ones they've deemed controversial, they want to give their left wing agitators enough time to get o

but i am deeply concerned that scott pruitt is a radical break

[applause] scott pruitt: we know what those are. we know that the previous administration, they took the clean water act and made puddles and dry creek bed the subject of the jurisdiction of washington dc. that is going to change. the future is not what it used to be. [applause] i think there will be some big steps taken to address some of those regulations, and some singles and doubles as well. >> you walked in that day with a lot of people wondering if they would have jobs. the number one thing people want to ask you is how much we cannot -- can be cut from the epa budget? people are suggesting we take it down to 90%. -- down by 90%. scott pruitt: i think in the near term, the most important thing we can focus upon at the epa is getting it all right. making sure the regulations that are posted and adopted by the agency are consistent with the rule of law and congressional mandates, and rollback those who are inconsistent from the previous administration. that is the work in the near term. long-term, asking the questions on how tha

pruitt is oklahoma's attorney general. democratic senators are trying to delay confirmation vote after an oklahoma judge yesterday released the e-mails between pruitt and fossil fuel companies. raise conflict of issues for the nominee. >> why not wait to let united states senators who have been asking for the e-mails for months now that we finally got them, why are we now rushing a vote until we get to analyze his record. >> tweeted we must carefully review the new information before we cast a vote of scoot pruitt's nomination. hashtag, hold the floor. >>> president trump promising to issue a new order on administration next week. told a federal appeals court it wants to pause the fight over the original travel ban now a new was is on the way. taylored to the court decision that put a hold on the travel ban. >>> participation in a day without immigrants. south philadelphia last night, immigration leaders rallied to show support. many families closed business us and stayed home from work to highlight the contribution of imm

scott pruitt is hiding. >> reporter: a watchdog group filed a lawsuit to get access to pruitt's e-mail communications with the fossil fuel agency. thursday, an oklahoma district judge ruled pruitt must turn over 3,000 e-mails by next tuesday. >> he's been hiding information from the senate. and from the american people, about the true extent of that relationship. how deep his ties go to the industry that he would be basically charged with regulating. >> reporter: he's filed least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. and in his confirmation hearing senators revealed pruitt used oklahoma state stationary and signed his name drafted by lobbyists those letters sent to agencies criticizing environmental resignations. democrats pushed the vote to allow time to review e-mails. >> it's not the worst thing in the world to take a few extra days to properly vet someone who will have immense power. >> reporter: but senate republicans refused to delay. it's pretty clear what's happening, they want to move them as solely as possible. on the ones they have deemed controversial, they want to give heir le

but pruitt's confirmation is not the end of the story. as the "new york times" reported, epa workers tried to block pruitt in an open show of defiance making clear pruitt will face strong internal opposition at the agency he runs. pruitt is scheduled to speak to epa employees on tuesday, the day his e-mails to fossil fuel companies become public. something tells me he's not in for the warmest of welcomes. br. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ daddy! lets play! sorry kids. feeling dead on your feet? i've been on my feet all day. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles have a unique gel wave design for outrageous comfort that helps you feel more energized. dr. scholl's. feel the energy! i'm phil mickelson, pro go

and so, yeah, scott pruitt is taking over as head of the epa, but that also means that scott pruitt will start his new job with the epa as his first big scandal already waiting for him when he walks in the door. oh, boy. >> scott pruitt for epa? oh, boy. ♪ some things are simply impossible to ignore. the strikingly designed lexus nx turbo and hybrid. the suv that dares to go beyond utility. experience amazing. or keeping a hotel's guests cuttinconnected.i to 35,000 fans... businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal th

what scott pruitt is hiding. >> reporter: a watch dog group filed a lawsuit to get access to pruitt's e-mail communications with the fossil fuel industry. thursday an oklahoma district judge ruled pruitt must turnover 3,000 e-mails by next tuesday. >> he has been hiding information from the senate and from the american people about the true extent of that relationship, how deep his ties go to the industries that he would be basically charged with regulating. >> reporter: he's filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the epa and in his confirmation hearing senators revealed pruitt used oklahoma state stationery and signed his name to letters drafted by energy lobbyists. those letters were then sent to federal agencies criticizing environmental regulations. democrats pushed to delay pruitt's confirmation vote to allow time to review the e-mails. >> it's not the worst thing in the world to take a few extra days to properly vet someone who will have immense power. >> reporter: but senate republicans refused to delay. >> it's pretty clear what's happening. they want to move them as slowly a

but pruitt's confirmation is not the end of the story. as the "new york times" reported, epa workers tried to block pruitt in an open show of defiance making clear pruitt will face strong internal opposition at the agency he runs. pruitt is scheduled to speak to epa employees on tuesday, the day his e-mails to fossil fuel companies become public. something tells me he's not in for the warmest of welcomes. ♪ ♪ king arthur: ready! washington: charge! empress wu: charge! (in chinese) king arthur: charge! ♪ let your reign begin. evony, the mobile game. download now. anyone ever have occasional y! constipation,diarrhea, gas or bloating? she does. she does. help defend against those digestive issues. take phillips' colon health probiotic caps daily with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes? wow! try phillips' colon health. . can you tell us anything about the discussion -- >> no, it's classified and we can't tell you anythi. all i can tell you is the fbi director has no credibility. that's it. >> that was representative maxine waters e

>> so pruitt for epa? oh, boy. >> oh, boy. scott pruitt was confirmed today to head the epa by a vote of 52-46. the epa is about to be taken over by somebody whose mission is n life really appears to be to abolish the agency he's now been put in charge of. he's spent his whole professional career deriding the epa and suing the epa. now as of today he is in charge of it. but you know what? interesting thing here, we're still going to get those e-mails. scott pruitt is still subject to that court order. he still really does have to hand other hundreds of those e-mails between his office and oil and gas companies. has to hand over hundreds of them by tuesday. has to hand over thousands more over the next ten days. for whatever reason he has been illegally withholding those thousands of e-mails that document his relationship and his communications with the oil and gas industry which, of course, he'll now be dealing with directly as our new epa administrator so, yeah, scott pruitt is taking over as head of the epa but that means sc

democrats holding an all-night protest against scott pruitt. president trump's nominee for secretary. one of the democrats leading the effort is tom carper o delaware. tweeted overnight. we must review the information. he used the hashtag, hold the floor. democrats are trying to delay the vote after a judge ordered the release of e-mails between pruitt and fossil fuel companies. democrats say the e-mails raise conflict of interest issues for the nominee. pruitt is expected to be confirmed by a anymore row minor gin when the vote comes up this afternoon. >>> now to update on a story that we brought you as breaking news yesterday morning. the red cross is helping fire victims, including three children who were injured when flames ripped through their home. nbc 10 was on the teen of fire. police told us a man who lives in the house suffered burns. he escaped flames along with three children and their mother. three other kids on the block and a neighbor were treated for smoke inhalation. police investigating the cause of that fire. >>> yesterday a

scott pruitt. republicans blaming the other side of the aisle for dragging on the process as democrats are critical of the president's choices. >> it's clear what's happening. they want to move them as slowly as possible. >> why do they want the rush through the cabinet. they are ashamed of them. >> mike pence heads to germany for the munich security conference. >>> the u.s. senate confirmed scott pruitt today. he was quickly sworn in. he spent much of the career as oklahoma attorney seeking to undercut the epa. he questions if human activity contributes to climate change. one republican susan colins of maine voted against pruitt. two democrats where states where the cole industry is -- cold industry is dong voted for pruitt. white house press secretary sean spicer said the report was not true. the ap obtained a memo written by homeland secretary john kelly. it calls for as many as 100,000 national guard troops to take part in a crackdown on illegal immigration. the bay area congressman urged on th

senate has confirmed or is about to confirm scott pruitt to be head of the epa. we told you there was one republican defection against mr. pruitt, but a couple of democrats have join his side, and the votes are being cast. scott pruitt will be the next epa administrator as a result of the vote just taking place in the u.s. senate right now. we will keep you updated. >> abby: a lot of things very closely at this hour, also keeping a close eye on president trump about to make some remarks at the boeing dreamliner debut, right now you can see the south carolina governor, but we are told the ceo of boeing will be introducing the president probably a few moments from now. we will keep you posted. >> jon: in the meantime, emergency crews in oroville, california, bracing for more rain, putting the region at risk for major flooding this weekend. that could mean more trouble for those living under that damaged dam. live from oroville with the latest, claudia. >> it has been coming down steadily all morning and repairs on the purple still weighs here at dam will be getting

despite all of that scott pruitt was confirmed. we should expect more drama. he's now facing that court order to release e-mail communications with the energy industry. his opponents are looking for potential conflicts of interest. >> the nomination is confirmed. >> reporter: scott pruitt confirmed to the head of the environmental protection agency, the same agency he fought against as oklahoma attorney general. >> the american people have a right to know what he's hiding. >> reporter: his confirmation come as he faces a new court order. a watch doug group filed access to get access to pruitt's communications with the fossil fuel industry. thursday a district judge ruled he needs to turn over 3,000 e-mails by next thursday. democrats and environmental group accuse him of being cozy with the industry. >> he's been hiding that from the american people and how deep his ties go. >> reporter: he's filed at least a dozen lawsuits against the epa. >> in his confirmation hearing senators pressed pruitt for using oklahoma state stationery and signing his name on letter

pruitt said no, that is not what the law says, and it has already regulation.n the it is true that pruitt has disagreed with the eva, but it is also true that he has been right and he understands very well what the epa's responsibility and role is. somebody running the epa understands the limits on its power and understand what it should and should not be doing is a huge improvement over what we have had, which is an epa that thinks there are no limits on what you do. host: we will take a couple more calls. next we have dolores from tennessee on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling because i believe climate change is real, and one of my concerns is fracking. there are states -- i believe kansas, oklahoma -- and they have had more earthquakes than ever before, i mean, a great number of earthquakes, which i believe is caused by fracking. if you do fracking and you get too close to the andrea's fault, which runs through santa fe, -- thesem from earthquakes. i know here in tennessee, for temperatures, according to our meteorologists, are 30 degrees above norm