{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=1d0680da-723a-410e-8b0f-dca13f697e70", "Flakes Science of Splurging Puts  EPA Spending Under the Microscope", "2014-12-02", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Jeff Flake", "F000444", "www.flake.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) today released the Science of Splurging, a report highlighting more than a dozen examples of wasteful and egregious spending by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) including:\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n$1,100,000 to pay the salaries of eight employees who were not working due to being placed on administrative leave\r\n$3,500,000 to fund \u201cPlanning for Economic and Fiscal Health\u201d workshops across the country\r\n$1,500,000 annually to store out-of-date and unwanted publications at an Ohio warehouse\r\n$700,000 to attempt to reduce methane emitted from pig flatulence in Thailand\r\n$900,000 in salary, benefits and improper bonuses paid to an oft-absent employee who fraudulently claimed to be an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency\r\n \r\n\u201cFor an agency keen to regulate every puddle from a rainstorm, the EPA has proven itself remarkably inept when it comes to managing its own affairs,\u201d said Flake. \u201cAfter years of handing out blank checks in the form of omnibus appropriations bills and continuing resolutions, it\u2019s time for Congress to return to regular order and restore accountability at the EPA.\u201d\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=1d0680da-723a-410e-8b0f-dca13f697e70"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7897228933870792, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}