Henry Waxman: “I rise to speak on H.R. 8, The Border Smog Reduction Act of 1998. I want to commend Chairman Bliley, Chairman Bilirakis…”

“I rise to speak on H.R. 8, The Border Smog Reduction Act of 1998. I want to commend Chairman Bliley, Chairman Bilirakis, Representative Bilbray, Representative Brown, and Representative Stupak for working together to perfect this bill. H.R. 8 has been significantly improved from the version originally introduced. As currently written, this legislation will make a modest improvement over current law authorizing the federal government to assist States in efforts to control air pollution from vehicles registered in foreign countries. This legislation is not perfect and I remain concerned about an approach which statutorily restricts vehicles from entering the San Diego border more than twice in any one year. I question whether it will be possible to inspect and repair vehicles commuting daily from Mexico in only two visits. It's not difficult to imagine a host of problems when this plan is actually implemented. Additionally, I think it's a mistake to exclude commercial traffic in San Diego from federal enforcement, when light-duty commercial traffic is responsible for the same types of air pollution problems that noncommercial traffic is. In effect, this legislation will focus on pollution from commuting workers and students, while ignoring pollution from commercial vehicles. Notwithstanding these reservations, I commend Representative Bilbray for resolving most of my concerns.”