JOHN LINDER: “Mr. Chairman, let me just deal with three points. None of us want our constituents to suffer illness because of air. But…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me just deal with three points. None of us want our constituents to suffer illness because of air. But let us talk about what actually was said in the court. The D.C. Circuit specifically noted that EPA's arguments on the health effects of changing from the 1-hour rule to the 8-hour rule for the 1997 standard were bizarre. That is the court's response. Bizarre. The EPA itself argued during the trial that the health effects were irrelevant to the development of the rule, and EPA's own final rule on the 8-hour standard notes that quantitative risk assessment could not be developed. This is the EPA speaking. With respect to the transportation issue and the highway funds, in the Clean Air Act a nonattainment designation, which the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) referred to, triggers the conformity process. Under this process, a region can lose all access to its Federal highway funds even if it is in conformity. No EPA enforcement actions are necessary to trigger conformity. Only a nonattainment designation is needed to threaten a region's highway funding. The Federal DOT directs all enforcement during this process. Finally, let me say that this is not unprecedented. The gentleman from New York voted for this 2 years ago. In TEA-21, we had a provision that stayed the rules, that stayed the designation process for 1 year; and we had that because we thought the court would be completed within 1 year.”