PAWTUCKET – Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) Co-Chair David N. Cicilline (RI-01), a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, issued the following statement today:

“Scott Pruitt’s long-overdue resignation today doesn’t change the fact that President Trump is running the most corrupt administration in recent memory. For the last 18 months, President Trump has tolerated an EPA Administrator who billed taxpayers for flights on private jets, directed his staff to destroy records of meetings with coal company executives, and tried to use government resources to get his wife a $200,000 job. It’s shameful.”

“Although his corruption is what forced Administrator Pruitt to step down, his record as head of the EPA put him squarely on the side of fossil fuel companies and climate change deniers. He repealed President Obama’s Clean Power Plan that reduced greenhouse gas emissions. He did more than anyone to weaken regulations that keep our drinking water clean and our air safe from pollution. He pushed the White House to give a prominent platform to people who deny the reality of climate change. These facts alone should have kept him from ever getting nominated, but they reflect the reality that this administration refuses to accept the importance of protecting our environment.”  

“The American people put their trust in President Trump to drain the swamp, but corruption in Washington has gotten much worse on his watch. Public distrust in government has never been higher. That’s in no small part because so many members of this administration are trying to use their public office for personal gain. Everyday, it seems, we learn about a new way that the President, one of his top aides, or a member of his Cabinet are abusing the public trust for their own benefit. This isn’t just wrong, it makes it harder for good public servants to do their jobs effectively. This pattern of grifting and swindling has to end if we’re ever going to solve the challenges facing our country."