The inspector general for the Environmental Protection Agency continues to dig into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's use of taxpayer money for travel.
According to an EPA memo cited by The Hill, the EPA's IG expanded the scope of its original investigation to include all of Pruitt's travel through 2017. The memo cites "additional Congressional requests."
The IG is looking at three main factors related to Pruitt's travel: "The frequency, cost and extent of the Administrator's travel … Whether applicable EPA travel policies and procedures were followed for Administrator Pruitt's travel, as well as other EPA staff and security personnel traveling with or in advance of Administrator Pruitt … [and] Whether EPA policies and procedures are sufficiently designed to prevent fraud, waste and abuse regarding the Administrator's travel."
According to the Washington Examiner, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., requested that the EPA's IG look at Pruitt's four-day trip to Morocco last month that cost $40,000. The trip was intended to promote the use of natural gas.
The Washington Post reported in October that the EPA's IG was investigating Pruitt's travel habits in the first half of the year, which included non-commercial and military flights that cost more than $58,000.
Other members of Trump's Cabinet have come under fire for their traveling habits, which includes taking private jets instead of commercial flights. Tom Price resigned as secretary of Health and Human Services in September after he was accused of spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on private jets, while traveling on official government business.
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