President Barack Obama, who is planning to implement regulations through executive orders, sent two representatives from his administration to a House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee hearing this week.
Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on Energy and Power, sent requests more than a month ago to the top 13 federal agencies for their officials to testify; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz have said they will show up.
Whitfield criticized the administration, saying:
What does it say about an administration that is largely unwilling to testify on its top policy initiative? More than $77 billion was spent between 2008 and 2013 across the government on climate activities, and yet the “most transparent administration in history” can only find two people to testify from these agencies that employ tens of thousands of employees and receive significant funding for climate change related activities.
This Friday, the Obama Administration is expected to release a statement that delineates the revised draft standards for new power plants. Whitfield wants to know just where the money is going; he said, “It is appropriate for Congress to conduct oversight of the plan, as well as of the administration’s current climate activities for which billions of dollars are being spent annually.”