In a showdown between irresistible force and immovable object, the immovable object won.
Under withering questioning this afternoon from exasperated House government oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson held his ground, repeating the same non-responsive answers until the usually unflappable Waxman finally lost his temper.
Waxman was asking Johnson whether he had ever discussed two ozone rulings with the President. Johnson has previously testified that he had discussed California’s emissions waiver, but now refused to say whether he had discussed the ozone rulings. The White House’s involvement in overruling science-based recommendations from EPA staff in favor of more politically expedient alternatives is now the focus of Waxman’s investigation.
As Waxman continued to press this line of questioning, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the highest ranking Republican present at the hearing, protested that Waxman was asking questions out of turn, prompting Waxman to threaten to have Issa removed from the hearing room.
This sort of song and dance from Johnson is now routine. He’s managed to skate through multiple Senate and House hearings now, confirming his critics’ impressions that he’s a deceptive political hack, but avoiding actually answering the questions.
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.