Senate Republicans Boycott Gina McCarthy Confirmation

Date: May 11, 2013

Source: News Room

This week Senate Republicans prevented a vote on the nomination of Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator of the EPA, by boycotting a meeting of the Environment and Public Works committee. GOP members said their questions for McCarthy and the EPA have gone unanswered, a contention that is disputed by the White House. The dispute over McCarthy stems from more than 1,000 written questions Republican senators asked her after her confirmation hearing. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), the top Republican on the Environment Committee, has led the charge with questions over aggressive EPA regulations to cut pollution as well as her predecessor's use of phony email accounts to hide official correspondence from public scrutiny. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) said McCarthy had gone "above and beyond the requirements of a nominee" in answering more than 1,000 questions and meeting with almost half the 100-member Senate. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) blames the boycott in part on the sexism of her GOP opponents.

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