The Public Record
Henry Waxman is a former U.S. Representative from California, serving from 1975 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was known for his work on health care, environmental policy, and consumer protection. During his tenure, Waxman played a key role in the passage of the Affordable Care Act and was a prominent advocate for climate change legislation. He chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he focused on issues such as tobacco regulation and health care reform.
Add it all up, what do you have? House Republicans have voted against climate change legislation, they voted against climate regulation, they have voted against climate research and development, and they voted against international climate…
House Republicans voted to strip you of the authority to regulate those emissions, isn't that right?
Last year, I tried a different approach. I wrote an op-ed calling for an emissions fee that would put a price on carbon.
At the time, our bill was criticized for being too generous to the coal industry.
This Congress has rightly been called the do-nothing Congress. But on climate we are doing worse than nothing.
My concern is that we are facing this urgent threat, but all Congress is doing is getting in the way.
The President was right. We don't have time for another meeting of the Flat Earth Society.
Climate change is the biggest energy challenge we face and a clear and present danger to the United States and to the world.
What is your plan? If you don't like the President's plan, what is your proposal?
Unfortunately, TSCA has so far fallen short of its objectives. Its failures have meant avoidable suffering, disease, and death.
I think it is very important to preserve the traditional power of States to take legislative regulatory action under their traditional powers to protect their citizens and their environment from the hazards posed by toxic chemicals.
We need to heed the advice of the Blue Ribbon Commission: adopt a new consent-based approach to tackling the Nation's nuclear waste problem.
The President's Blue Ribbon Commission recommended that Congress create a new organization devoted entirely to managing the nuclear waste problem.
I want to ask you and take this opportunity to inquire about some issues that are important to the people of California.
When Secretary Sebelius was in Florida a few weeks ago, she said she knew of no other State that had gone this far.
It is also important to remember that most of the implementation problems are likely to come from Republican State leaders who are openly obstructing the goals of the law.
I believe we should keep our eyes on the bigger picture: problems that arise will be fixed, and we are on a steady path to offering every American quality, affordable health coverage and making our health care system more sensible…
Inevitably, there will be some glitches and hiccups in implementation of this law, and I expect every time they find any hiccup, the Republicans here in Washington will make a hue and cry about it.
It is an interesting example today of the Republicans ignoring their own oversight findings.
As far as I'm concerned, they ought to be put in jail. It's so terrible what they're doing, using the plight of our veterans to make themselves rich and playing upon the good well-meaning Americans who want to help veterans and are willing…
I only have one more speaker on my side. May I inquire of the manager of the bill, how about you?
Politicians like Henry Waxman
