EPA Chief of Staff Approved Raises for Aides, Watchdog Finds

Source: Bloomberg

EPA Chief of Staff Approved Raises for Aides, Watchdog Finds

By Ari Natter and Jennifer A Dlouhy
April 16, 2018, 9:00 AM EDT Updated on April 16, 2018, 5:11 PM EDT

? Inspector general releases interim report during hiring audit
? Report shows Pruitt’s aide Jackson signed off on raises

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s chief of staff signed off on controversial raises for employees of as much as 72 percent, according to the agency’s internal watchdog.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general released documents Monday showing Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson authorized three of those salary increases using an obscure provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

That buttresses Jackson’s assertion last week that he, not Pruitt, was responsible for the raises -- and that the EPA administrator had no knowledge of the amount of the increases nor the method by which they came about. In authorizing the raises, the EPA effectively overruled White House officials who had objected to at least two of the salary increases.

Pruitt said in a Fox News interview earlier this month that he didn’t authorize two of the raises and didn’t know who did. "It should not have been done," Pruitt said in the interview that aired April 4. "There will be some accountability."

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Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-16/epa-chief-of-staff-approved-raises-for-top-aides-report-finds