George Miller: “I would say to the Members of the House that at the end of this week and the beginning of next week the House will…”

“I would say to the Members of the House that at the end of this week and the beginning of next week the House will consider a proposal dealing with the issue of unfunded mandates. More importantly, what we will be dealing with is a most serious attack led by the Republicans in the Congress on the basic laws in this country that hold this Nation together as a society and deal with our common interests and our common concerns for the purposes of achieving social progress in this country. This is the body of laws that has moved us from a dangerous and polluted workplace and from a dangerous and polluted society to one where we now take into account those measures to protect our environment and to protect our workplace. These are the laws that protect our workplace. These are the laws that protect the waters of our lakes and our rivers and make those waters safe to drink, along with the ground waters and the basins that run from State to State. These are the laws that protect the air that we breathe, the laws that guarantee that a handicapped child can go to school, and that mandate background checks for child-care workers so that we know that when parents drop their children off in the morning, they will not be victimized by child molesters or others who would seek to take advantage of them. It is these laws that require those background checks and the fingerprinting that are now in place.”