Senate Democrats call on EPA administrator Stephen Johnson to resign, want DOJ investigation.
Senate Democrats call on EPA administrator Stephen Johnson to resign, want DOJ investigation.
In a press conference today, four members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), called on EPA administrator Stephen Johnson to resign, charging that he had refused to cooperate with Congressional oversight and gave misleading testimony. The senators also asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the contradictions between Johnson’s sworn testimony to Congress and the sworn testimony of other witnesses regarding the EPA’s decision to deny California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Boxer said that Johnson had “become a secretive and dangerous ally of polluters“:
BOXER: Mr. Johnson has consistently chosen special interests over the American people’s interests in protecting health and safety. He has become a secretive and dangerous ally of polluters, and we cannot stand by and allow more damage to be done. We have lost all confidence in Stephen Johnson’s ability to carry out EPA’s mission in accordance with the law. I call on Administrator Johnson to immediately resign his position.
Read Boxer and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) letter to Mukasey here. The Wonk Room has video of Whitehouse’s sobering Senate floor speech.
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We’ll all breathe easier when this puppet’s strings get clipped.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:02 pmWasn’t it the EPA under the Bush Regime that also stated CO2 emitted from exhaust pipes is different than CO2 emitted from tree leaves? Yes, I think it was. They’re trying to say CO2 emitted from exhaust pipes is safer than the CO2 coming out of leaves. Of course, CO2 is a molecule, so therefore, it never changes no matter where it’s coming from. But you can’t tell that to the WORLD’S BIGGEST POLLUTERS, isn’t that right Georgie? Spit.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:14 pmThe AG doesn’t answer to Congress. He already said his client is the President. This will just be another case of the AG telling Congress to go sit in the corner and be quite as Stephen Johnson laugh’s and laugh’s and laugh’s.
And Congress will go sit in the corner and be quite.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:17 pmbushco and their republican enablers are trying to run out the clock, praying for a mccain administration to whitewash the last 7 years of incompetence, corruption and political stench.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:20 pmOh no, not another strongly worded letter… Please, say it ain’t so.
What will Mukasey do?
Oh, wait. Lemme guess… NOTHING!
I want my country back!
July 29th, 2008 at 8:35 pmMatt, listen up. If you post something funny like this again… causing me to laugh too hard and fall out of my chair – again… I’m not going to be a happy camper, m’kay?
hehehe
July 29th, 2008 at 8:42 pmWow, dem DemoRats are gittin’ reel tuff!!
July 29th, 2008 at 8:52 pmThe only way that either Johnson will resign or Mukasey will investigate Johnson for, in this case, perjury, is….well…not. There’s only one answer to any of this b.s. Impeachment hearings commencing in the House. Both Johnson and Mukasey can be impeached. I understand there were actually articles of impeachment being worked on for Gonzales before he finally resigned. Yes, it’s late in this administration. But for this group, better late than never. Drafting articles of impeachment might be enough to get these two to resign. Frankly, we’re better off with vacancies in these two offices for the remaining less than 6 months in this administration than having them remain. Mukasey especially, since he has no intention of doing his job, which is enforcing prosecution of violations of federal law. If any member of the administration is involved in these violations, Mukasey will simply continue to do what he has done. Look the other way. And I’m afraid the Dems will continue what they have done. Write strong letters and issue threats. I really can’t tell if they are fooling themselves or it’s simply a charade for the American public.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:05 pmToday’s Republican Party is a freak show of hate-filled sociopaths, immoral religious and social extremists, insecure, overcompensating, irresponsible, dangerously incompetent, war-mongering imperialists and greedy, exploitive corporate anarchists. Just look at the odious and inadequate carnival barkers and snake oil salesmen the Republican Party had competing to be their presidential candidate. Republicans tacitly welcome homophobes, misogynists, racists, anti-Semites and messianic fundamentalist nut jobs into their party and inherently incorporate their values into their moral fabric and political objectives. Being an Irish Catholic Democrat raised with four younger siblings by an uneducated single mom, I have never agreed with social conservatives, but compared to Bush’s Republican Party, Eisenhower’s Republican Party was a liberal bastion of social and economic enlightenment and pluralism. Defending the actions of today’s Republican Party is advocating ignorance and evil over common sense and common decency. It would be hard to imagine that any presidential administration, Republican or Democrat, could have been as malicious, polarizing, undemocratic, corrupt or destructively pernicious to the founding causes and defining principles of our republic than George W. Bush’s. I am surprised that I am ashamed for the “good” Republicans, only because I could not have possibly imagined how “bad” some Americans were capable of being.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:43 pmBushCo agreeing to their own criminal behavior review would be like Mc Carthy acccepting the ability of a Senate Committee to review whwther he was a paranoid whack-job or not.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:46 pmAnd Boxer has ‘no standing’ to question this crony because…?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:16 pmImpeach him and Mukasey. You gotta start somewhere.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:54 pmFirst, let’s impeach Cheney, then Bush, and this small fry will go into his proper dustbin in history.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:09 pmI LOVE the way a sternly worded letter smells in the morning! Boy, that will teach ‘em a lesson they’ll never forget!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:32 pmThe senators also asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the contradictions between Johnson’s sworn testimony to Congress and the sworn testimony of other witnesses regarding the EPA’s decision to deny California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Um…you do realize who you’re asking right? Asking Mukasey to investigate anything involving the Bush administration is like asking Haldeman to investigate Nixon.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
July 29th, 2008 at 11:53 pmWhy should I vote for any Democrat? Once again we see that the Democrat party is cowardly and gutless. Gonzales should have been impeached early on. It is obvious that the Republicans and the president understand that the Democrat congress will do nothing.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:01 amEven the president admitted we were one of the world’s biggest polluters – time to move on Mr. Johnson you fail. I’m sure you’ve done quite well for yourself and there’s always the book tour and speaking engagements and corporate news punditry…. yeah Stephen will be OK. Polar Bears on the other hand, – I suggest you take your kids to the zoo ASAP! Take lots of pictures.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:23 amKayInMaine Says:
Wasn’t it the EPA under the Bush Regime that also stated CO2 emitted from exhaust pipes is different than CO2 emitted from tree leaves? Yes, I think it was. They’re trying to say CO2 emitted from exhaust pipes is safer than the CO2 coming out of leaves. Of course, CO2 is a molecule, so therefore, it never changes no matter where it’s coming from.
I thought the product of photosynthesis was O2? -
6 CO2(g) + 12 H2O(l) + photons ? C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g) + 6 H2O(l)
carbon dioxide + water + light energy ? glucose + oxygen + water
Guess the bushies didn’t pay attention in biology class….
July 30th, 2008 at 5:38 amsorry equation should be:
6 CO2(g) + 12 H2O(l) + photons = C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g) + 6 H2O(l)
July 30th, 2008 at 5:41 amcarbon dioxide + water + light energy = glucose + oxygen + water
Stephen Johnson’s immaculately coiffed, and grinning head should be adorning the point of a large, medieval pike mounted on a bridge over the Potomac as a warning for bureaucratic scrotes everywhere as to the dangers of too-enthusiastic, bureaucratic sycophantism…
July 30th, 2008 at 8:32 amWhat the ‘ell has take the Damnocrats so long to get around to this?
July 30th, 2008 at 8:56 am——————————————————————————–
osage Says:
——————————————————————————–
Today’s Republican Party is a freak show of hate-filled sociopaths, immoral religious and social extremists, insecure, overcompensating, irresponsible, dangerously incompetent, war-mongering imperialists and greedy, exploitive corporate anarchists. Just look at the odious and inadequate carnival barkers and snake oil salesmen the Republican Party had competing to be their presidential candidate. Republicans tacitly welcome homophobes, misogynists, racists, anti-Semites and messianic fundamentalist nut jobs into their party and inherently incorporate their values into their moral fabric and political objectives. Being an Irish Catholic Democrat raised with four younger siblings by an uneducated single mom, I have never agreed with social conservatives, but compared to Bush’s Republican Party, Eisenhower’s Republican Party was a liberal bastion of social and economic enlightenment and pluralism. Defending the actions of today’s Republican Party is advocating ignorance and evil over common sense and common decency. It would be hard to imagine that any presidential administration, Republican or Democrat, could have been as malicious, polarizing, undemocratic, corrupt or destructively pernicious to the founding causes and defining principles of our republic than George W. Bush’s. I am surprised that I am ashamed for the “good” Republicans, only because I could not have possibly imagined how “bad” some Americans were capable of being.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:
Dam, that is a spot on post!
July 30th, 2008 at 9:13 amResponse to #12, Gregor: Boxer has no standing because she is not a member of the Bush administration or a financial contributer. Remember, to people like Fratto, congress doesn’t count. And far be it for a member of the MSM to ask your question as a followup.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:37 amPerhaps someone should tell Fratto that any citizen has “standing” to criticize the performance and integrity of any member of the government. It is called accountability. This administration seems to need a lesson. As for blaming the Democrats would someone please explain how you propose to impeach anyone without the votes in the House and how you would convict with your alleged majority hinging on Joe Lieberman?
July 30th, 2008 at 10:22 amJMOHR:
I feel your pain at #17 above. Have you seen this?
July 30th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Oops no link?
July 30th, 2008 at 11:26 amhttp://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/07/29/blue_dogs_die/index.html