Political Quotes

“I think this amendment is a bad idea in and of itself, but let us understand what is at stake. If we defeat the rule, we are defeating the idea of elevating the EPA Administrator to Cabinet level. That is a worthwhile objective, and we should not defeat the rule that would allow us to accomplish that result. But let me say from an environmental point of view that we have some laws, like the Clean Air Act, where we have standards tied to health and the Clean Water Act. We have standards tied to technology in the FIFRA where we balance the risks and benefits; in other words, the substantive law that the EPA is handled differently. I do not think we ought to have one-size-fits-all restrictions on risk assessment to be handled in the same exact way on every environmental issue. Now, the fact of the matter is EPA does do risk assessment. Risk assessment is a very useful tool.”