(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) An embattled Biden official is at the center of a fiery Senate debate this week as Republicans push for the removal of her taxpayer-funded salary, Fox News reported on Oct. 30.
Ann Carlson, the acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), found herself entangled in an ethics probe that has escalated concerns over her purportedly extreme environmentalist activism.
The focal point of the controversy revolves around Carlson’s contentious appointment, which skipped the Senate’s confirmation process earlier this year, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
“President Biden’s illegal appointment of Ann Carlson, who was effectively rejected by the Senate due to concerns about her extreme agenda and radical record, will only yield more mandates, higher costs for families and a less vibrant economy,” said Cruz last month, according to Fox News.
According to the news outlet, Cruz further alluded to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which prohibits “any person who has been nominated to fill any vacant office from performing that office’s duties in an acting capacity.”
The spotlight on Carlson intensified following the circulation of an internal memo by the Republican Commerce Committee, shedding light on her involvement with the California-based law firm Sher Edling’s pursuit of litigation against fossil fuel companies.
Fox News disclosed that Carlson allegedly played an active role in aiding Sher Edling’s pursuit of over a dozen climate nuisance lawsuits on behalf of cities and various states. These lawsuits primarily assert that oil companies bear responsibility for their alleged impact on climate change.
“President Biden’s EV mandates and subsidies may have been inspired by radical politicians in deep blue states, but they’ve been put into practice by unaccountable bureaucrats like Ann Carlson,” Cruz said last month on Twitter.
Fox News reported that “Carlson worked with Dan Emmett, the chairman of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment to raise money from liberal non-profit organizations to fund Sher Edling’s work through an indirect dark money fund.”
The further added, “The pair secured support from Terry Tamminen in his role as the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s CEO at the time.”
