Political Quotes

“my bipartisan amendment, cosponsored by Senators Lincoln, Kerrey of Nebraska, and Roberts, prevents funds from being used for the application of any pesticide that is not approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency in any area managed by the U.S. Park Service that may be used by children. Further, it directs the Secretary of the Interior to coordinate with EPA to ensure that pest control methods do not lead to unacceptable exposure of children to pesticides. Let there be no mistake that every member of this Senate supports the protection of children. It is the mandate of the EPA to do so. They are already required by law to do so. The strict standard that mandates EPA on product approval is: 'reasonable certainty of no harm.' That is a tall hurdle. The shocking thing about this underlying amendment by the Senator from California is that its premise holds that the EPA, is not, I repeat, not, doing its job protecting children. Let me repeat, this is a referendum on whether EPA is protecting children. Now, I think, that if the EPA were paying attention, it would be news to the EPA Administrator that her agency is not protecting children. As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD, I have listened to countless hours of testimony about the Administrator's devotion to protecting children. I would think, that if we had a Sense of the Senate that Administrator Browner is not doing her job protecting children, we would defeat that.”