Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior and Environment.
Pruitt faced a number of questions regarding his suspect spending habits on travel and security at the agency, as well as a housing rental arrangement he had with the wife of a lobbyist. Legislators also questioned Pruitt about firing employees that disagreed with his spending decisions and his role in giving large raises to two of his staffers in contradiction to orders from the White House.
Congressman Mike Conway, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has said that he expects his committee's text for the Farm Bill to be on the House floor the week of May 14th. House Republicans also met the morning of Friday, April 27th, to discuss the prospects of the Farm Bill.
In the Senate, there is still no bill text, though Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has said the bill is close. He met multiples times this week with Senate Agriculture Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow to work on the Senate's draft.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are still strongly opposed to the House version of the text primarily due to the proposed tightening of food assistance in the bill's nutrition title. As the balance of power favors Democrats more in the House than the Senate, the Senate text is anticipated to deal more moderately with the nutrition title and any proposed work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
