Obama Fired Scientist for Being Too Honest With Congress

A report from Rep. Lamar Smith, the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, concludes that President Barack Obama intimidated Department of Energy staffers and even fired a top scientist for refusing to toe the administration line on climate change policy.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the report shows that senior officials in the executive branch went to great lengths to keep Congress from looking into matters that would have stymied the president’s aggressive climate agenda.

From the Free Beacon:

A top DoE scientist who liaised with Congress on the matter was fired by the Obama administration for being too forthright with lawmakers, according to the report, which provides an in-depth look at the White House’s efforts to ensure senior staffers toe the administration’s line.

The report also provides evidence that the Obama administration worked to kill legislation in order to ensure that it could receive full funding for its own hotly contested climate change agenda.

Smith released a statement accusing the administration of preventing lawmakers from doing their jobs.

“Instead of providing the type of scientific information needed by Congress to legislate effectively, senior departmental officials sought to hide information, lobbied against legislation, and retaliated against a scientist for being forthcoming,” Smith said. “In this staff report based on lengthy record before the committee, much has been revealed about how senior level agency officials under the Obama administration retaliated against a scientist who did not follow the party line.”

The controversy stems from congressional efforts to regulate the Low Dose Radiation Research Program. According to Smith’s report, Dr. Noelle Metting, a scientist involved with the program, was fired for “providing too much information” to Congress when she appeared before a panel in 2014.

Smith claims that Metting was punished because her testimony might have encouraged Congress to pass a law regulating the program, thus diverting funds from Obama’s precious Climate Action Plan.

“DoE placed its own priorities to further the president’s Climate Action Plan before its constitutional obligations to be candid with Congress,” Smith’s report concluded. “The DoE’s actions constitute a reckless and calculated attack on the legislative process itself, which undermines the power of Congress to legislate.”

Well, none of this should come as any surprise. The Obama administration is on record using outright propaganda to further their climate change goals, so why wouldn’t they intimidate and/or fire employees who undermined those goals? When you consider this president’s disdain for Congress, the only surprise is that he didn’t do this kind of thing more often.

Perhaps Dr. Metting, who put the truth ahead of Obama’s agenda, will have a place in Donald Trump’s incoming administration.