Washington • The nearly $43,000 soundproof phone booth Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt had installed in his office last year violated federal spending laws, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
In an eight-page letter to lawmakers, GAO general counsel Thomas Armstrong said the agency failed to notify lawmakers that it was exceeding the $5,000 limit for agency heads to furnish, redecorate or otherwise make improvements to their offices. In addition, Armstrong wrote, the agency also violated the federal Antideficiency Act, “because EPA obligated appropriated funds in a manner specifically prohibited by law.”
The EPA had argued that the almost $25,000 customized phone booth – which required painting, concrete and electrical work totaling more than $18,000 to reconfigure the small closet area where it was placed – was not part of a redecoration of Pruitt’s office and should not be subject to the $5,000 cap.