Jackie Speier: “I thank the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a great leader in our Congress, and someone…”

“I thank the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a great leader in our Congress, and someone who I admire greatly. The only thing clever about this bill is the title. Everything else about this bill is truly diabolical. The SCRUB Act isn't going to clean anything up. Its toxic suds will just make people sicker, our environment dirtier, and our products more dangerous. Creating an unelected commission to oversee the entire regulatory policy of the United States is undemocratic and unimaginably damaging. Essentially, five people appointed by the President would be able to sacrifice the health and safety of the American public to the altar of big business. {time} 1445 Say good-bye to protections from big banks, big polluters, and big pharmaceutical companies; and hello to financial ruin, environmental destruction, and unsafe food and drugs. These Presidential pawns would also have unlimited subpoena power. Now, think about this: they are going to have more subpoena power than the inspectors general in this country. Also, the SCRUB Act's senseless and dangerous regulatory cut-go process would force agencies to choose between maintaining existing protections and responding to new threats to our health and safety. For example, in order to clean up the air, an agency might have to allow a corporation to pollute our drinking water. Talk about death panels--this, my friends, is a death panel.…”