Jared Huffman: “Today I rise in opposition to the litany of bad, environmentally harmful bills that the House Republican leadership is…”

“Today I rise in opposition to the litany of bad, environmentally harmful bills that the House Republican leadership is offering in place of the bipartisan Senate energy bill. Now, the Senate bill, S. 2012, was sound policy and represented real progress on many important issues, but the package we are considering today is a dangerous threat. Not only is this package bad for drought- stricken States like California, but it includes a wish list of giveaways for the fossil fuel and mining industries, it undermines vital Endangered Species Act protections, and it undermines public review. {time} 1500 This is not a promising start to conference negotiations. Why are we wasting our time on a package of partisan bills that we have considered before and which we all know will never be signed into law? Even worse than the substance, Republicans shot down the request to consider this bill under an open amendment process. Now, I, for one, would have recommended many changes if we were allowed to consider this very controversial omnibus bill under regular order.…”