{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-to-trump-drain-the-swamp-at-epa-doe-doi", "Senators to Trump: Drain the Swamp at EPA, DOE, DOI", "2016-12-01", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Sheldon Whitehouse", "W000802", "www.whitehouse.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.01.16\n\t\t\t Senators to Trump: Drain the Swamp at EPA, DOE, DOI \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Donald Trump promised to end special interest control of Washington, but so far he\u2019s filled key environmental and energy posts with fossil fuel insiders Ebell, rumored pick for EPA Administrator, would be like \u201cfox in charge of the hen house,\u201d Senators write\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Washington, DC \u2013\u00a0 A group of 10 Senators sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump today calling on him to remove members of his team with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry who are managing his Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of the Interior transitions.\u00a0 By installing insiders with strong ties to major polluters at agencies charged with regulating those polluters, the Senators write, Trump is abandoning his campaign promise to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d of special interest influence in Washington and is instead \u201cfilling it with exactly the kinds of insiders that most Americans hoped [Trump] would reject.\u201d\r\nSenators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tom Udall (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Al Franken (D-MN) signed the letter.\u00a0\r\nText of the letter is below, and a PDF copy is available here.\r\nDecember 1, 2016\r\nPresident-elect Donald J. Trump\r\nTrump-Pence Transition Team\r\n1717 Pennsylvania Ave NW\r\nWashington, DC 20006\r\nDear President-elect Trump:\r\nWe write, some of us now a second time, to urge you to follow through on your promise that you would work to reduce the influence of corporate special interests and lobbyists in our government.\u00a0 We are alarmed to see your transition team is replete with lobbyists and others with extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry leading your transition efforts and mentioned as potential nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of the Interior (DOI).\u00a0 Your decision to empower people like Myron Ebell, Thomas Pyle, and Doug Domenech to chart a path for agencies that protect our public health and natural resources suggests that you are less interested in draining the swamp than you are filling it with exactly the kinds of insiders that most Americans hoped you would reject.\u00a0\r\nEPA\u2019s transition head, Myron Ebell, has a long history of working for industry-funded front groups like the Frontiers of Freedom/Frontiers of Freedom Institute (FOF) and Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). \u00a0At various times, the groups have been funded by the likes of Philip Morris, ExxonMobil, and the Koch family foundations.\u00a0\r\nAt FOF, Ebell was one of the authors of the infamous \u201cGlobal Climate Science Communications\u201d action plan, a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign to undermine climate science and to raise \u201cquestions among those (e.g. Congress) who chart the future U.S. course on global climate change.\u201d\u00a0 ExxonMobil, Koch family foundations, Koch-connected Donors Capital and Donors Trust, and coal companies Murray Energy and Massey Energy have poured money into CEI and its affiliated \u201cCooler Heads Coalition,\u201d that Ebell chairs.\u00a0 Polling consistently shows the majority of the American people support EPA protections.\u00a0 In addition to being out of step with the public, putting the fossil fuel-industry funded point person in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency is putting the fox in charge of the hen house.\u00a0\r\nThomas Pyle, the transition head for the Department of Energy, is a former lobbyist for oil and gas companies who has made a career of fighting clean energy and denying climate science to benefit the fossil fuel industry.\u00a0 Pyle is currently the President of both the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and its advocacy-wing, the American Energy Alliance (AEA). He has consistently denied the basics of climate science and is a frequent attendee to Koch brother mega-donor summits that raise hundreds of millions of dollars for general election ads promoting fossil fuels and attacking the clean energy industry.\u00a0 The IER and AEA have received over $300,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998 and nearly $4 million from Freedom Partners, the \u201cde-facto bank\u201d of the Koch brothers. His appointment gives big oil and gas more opportunities to line their pockets while offloading the costs of their pollution on middle-class Americans.\r\nA number of the same industry funders support the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) where Douglas Domenech, the head of your Department of Interior transition team, has led the Fueling Freedom initiative since 2015.\u00a0 Koch Industries and Koch family foundations have given over $1 million to TPPF between 2004 and 2014.\u00a0 TPPF has also benefited enormously from identity-scrubbers Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, which together gave over $3.75 million during the same time period. Exxon Mobil has also shown its support, giving $100,000 during the years from 2001 to 2011.\r\nOn the campaign trail, you told the American people that, \u201cdecades of special interest dealing, must and will come to an end.\u00a0 We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices a chance to go into government service.\u201d\u00a0 By appointing these special interest insiders to your transition team, you have raised serious questions about your desire to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d with respect to energy and environmental issues.\u00a0 If you are not willing to remove these corporate insiders from your transition team, you should direct them to disclose their and their organizations\u2019 financial supporters so we all know whose interests are being represented in your Administration.\u00a0\u00a0 Going forward, we urge you to adopt stronger ethics rules, like those implemented by President Obama, that prohibit lobbyists from working on your transition team or in your Administration in policy areas in which they recently lobbied.\u00a0\r\nAdditionally, we ask you to ensure the transition and cabinet-level leads for the agencies charged with protecting public health and our natural resources will heed the call you and three of your children made in a 2009 full-page ad in the New York Times:\r\n[W]e urge you, our government, to strengthen and pass United States legislation, and lead the world by example.\u00a0 We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today. Please don't postpone the earth. If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.\r\nSincerely,\r\n\u00a0___________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ____________________________\r\nSheldon Whitehouse\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jeffrey A. Merkley\r\nUnited States Senator\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senator\r\n\u00a0___________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ____________________________\r\nElizabeth Warren\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ron Wyden\r\nUnited States Senator\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senator\r\n____________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ____________________________\r\nTom Udall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Edward J. Markey\r\nUnited States Senator\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senator\r\n____________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ____________________________\r\nRichard Blumenthal\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Benjamin L. Cardin\r\nUnited States Senator\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senator\r\n____________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ____________________________\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nBernard Sanders\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Al Franken\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nUnited States Senator\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senator\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\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.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-to-trump-drain-the-swamp-at-epa-doe-doi"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5057160053402185, "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"}