Porter Goss: “I have long favored elevating EPA to Cabinet level status. I think it is justified. I think part of the purpose of doing…”

“I have long favored elevating EPA to Cabinet level status. I think it is justified. I think part of the purpose of doing that, of course, is to give us the opportunity to resolve some of the very costly confusion, some of the debilitating confrontation, and some of the intense conflict we have seen and has been alluded to in the debate here today. I would have, of course, preferred a clean bill. Many of us would. However, we do not have a clean bill. We have a bill that has been amended. In fact, several amendments have been made in order, and not all amendments of those that were asked have been afforded that privilege, so we only have selected amendments, in fact. Unfortunately, one of the ones that was not selected has been absolutely a critical amendment to the debate that is before us. Leaving out the amendment that the gentleman from Florida, John Mica, and the gentlewoman from Florida, Karen Thurman, have proposed is a little bit like inviting a guest to dinner and then not serving the main course. You go away with the feeling of emptiness, that somehow you have not quite gotten what you came for. We need to talk about private property rights, takings, risk assessments. These are issues that are not going to go away, and this Congress needs to speak on them and debate them.”