Ken Calvert: “Ronald Reagan was mentioned in discussing the gentleman's amendment. Ronald Reagan signed into law CalEPA in the State…”

“Ronald Reagan was mentioned in discussing the gentleman's amendment. Ronald Reagan signed into law CalEPA in the State of California. He also signed into law the first air quality district to regulate air in the United States, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, in the State of California, which was authored by a former colleague of ours named Jerry Lewis. Clean air is not a political or partisan issue. Certainly, in my area, which has some of the dirtiest air in the United States, we have done a lot to clean up air in our area in California. We have included a great number of policy provisions to address EPA's regulatory overreach, which I agree with, in this bill. And we have cut the EPA's budget dramatically, which I am in favor of doing. However, I believe that this specific amendment targets a program that is yielding great benefits. When you have a program that is actually working, we ought to keep it. Many counties across the Nation are currently not in containment with EPA's existing standards for particulate matter and ozone. In many instances, these counties have been in non-containment for years, and those communities need help to improve their air quality. The Diesel Emission Reduction Act grant program, DERA, is a proven, cost-effective program that provides grants to States to retrofit old diesel engines. So it is a program that supports manufacturing jobs, while also reducing pollution significantly.…”