McCarthy will likely clear the committee with Democratic support, but Republicans could make the count close.

{mosads}GOP lawmakers have questioned the EPA’s record on transparency and regulations, making President Obama’s pick for the4 agency one of the tougher appointments for getting full Senate approval.

Chiefly, Republicans say they want more information from the EPA about how it conducts its cost-benefit analyses when crafting regulations.

GOP lawmakers and industry have pushed back against many emissions and pollution rules rolled out during the Obama administration, saying they’re economically burdensome.

The EPA has said the public health benefits outweigh any sort of economic impact its rules might carry.

McCarthy and the agency also have had to defend the use of separate, internal email accounts.

Republicans say they worry the EPA has used separate accounts to conduct official business as a way to skirt public records requests. But the agency says the practice dates back to the George W. Bush administration, and that it hands over all correspondence from those email addresses in public records requests.