On the recordFebruary 16, 2011
This spending bill is simply unacceptable on many levels. This is a bill drafted for a sound bite, not sound policy for the American people. Handcuffing the EPA is proof of that fact, and I have and will continue to oppose those attempts and propose amendments where possible. This CR arbitrarily kills jobs, hurts the public health, and is a slap in the face to protecting our environment and clean air. This CR will set our country back decades by curtailing scientific research simply because Republicans don't like what the science says. Worse yet, it puts our children's health at risk by handcuffing the EPA's ability to simply police polluters. The American public needs real solutions and thoughtful policies, not sound bytes. This bill is a backhanded way of achieving a policy objective. Just because the Republican Party doesn't like what the overwhelming science is telling us and they've stopped time and time again any meaningful reform, now they're attempting to legislate in a spending bill. This bill simply continues the false logic often employed by Republicans: underfund an agency, then complain about its ineffectiveness, then call for further cuts because the program didn't have the funds to work in the first place.
