GOP senators want Justice to investigate EPA

Two Republican senators are asking the Department of Justice to investigate if the Environmental Protection Agency knowingly broke federal propaganda law with its social media campaign for a clean water rule. Sens. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday asking for a formal investigation into reports that the EPA broke federal law while promoting the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule. In December, the Government Accountability Office ruled the EPA violated the law and its campaign was akin to "covert propaganda" because a message posted on nearly 1,000 social media accounts did not identify itself as being generated by the EPA. "Something is tremendously wrong when a federal agency thinks it can break the law and illegally spend taxpayer dollars," said Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. "But that is the situation we have right now with EPA and their efforts to fool hardworking Americans about their Waters of the United States rule. EPA must be held accountable, and I look forward to hearing what the Department of Justice finds in their investigation."...more