U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday morning at a hearing to discuss the president’s climate change policies.

During the hearing, she was asked about a Washington Free Beacon Report that exposed internal emails appearing to show top EPA officials collaborating with leading environmentalist groups, “including overt efforts to coordinate messaging and pressure the fossil fuel industry.”

Lachlan Markay reported at the WFB:

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) grilled McCarthy on the issue at a Thursday hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, reciting portions of a Wednesday Washington Free Beacon report on the emails.
One of those emails showed that deputy EPA administrator Bob Perciasepe held an event with two dozen environmentalist groups for the explicit purpose of helping them solicit comments supportive of stringent environmental regulations.
“Is it proper behavior for the EPA to go out with these groups for the sole purpose of recruiting additional comment signers to then go ahead and support your position?” Barrasso asked.
McCarthy declined to address the event specifically, saying she had not seen the email in question and was not aware of the Perciasepe event.
Republicans also questioned the EPA Administrator about the validity of current climate science.
Senator Jeff Sessions pressed McCarthy to support the President’s questionable claims on warming which are used to justify massive proposed administrative actions which would hurt millions of workers. 
McCarthy appeared to be unable to support the President’s claims despite being the central figure crafting and implementing EPA regulations.
“Do I not have the right to ask the Director of EPA a simple question that is relevant to the dispute that is before us? Is the temperature around the globe increasing faster than was predicted, even 10 years ago [as the President claimed]?” Seesioned asked.
 
McCarthy responded, “I can’t answer that question.”

 Sessions pressed, “You are asking us to impose billions of dollars of cost on this economy and you won’t answer the simple question of whether [temperature around the globe is increasing faster than predicted] is an accurate statement or not?”

“I just look at what the climate scientists tell me… ” McCarthy answered. 

Sessions retorted, “climate scientists are telling you it’s not warming to the degree predicted, in fact, it hasn’t really warmed at all in the past 15 years.”