Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague. I rose in opposition, just so she understands that I will be speaking in opposition to the amendment. I appreciate the kind words. Mr. Chair, I wish she would have been here when the Rice amendment was on the floor, which has been passed and added to the bill, which would now allow the rich communities that have already paid for their modifications at great expense to be able to dip back into these funds at the expense of rural communities. That was an amendment we passed earlier. Mr. Chair, under this legislation, EPA is supposed to issue a national primary drinking water standard for PFAS, but PFOA and PFOS at a minimum. Once this is done, communities that are disadvantaged--and I am from rural Illinois, 33 counties--one, assistance for installing technology are eligible for the drinking water State-revolving loan programs. This amendment creates a double-dipping opportunity for communities when the main focus of the Safe Drinking Water Act State revolving fund is to help struggling systems meet the mandate it imposes to protect public health. More practically, because of budget allocations that the House appropriators are supposed to operate under, increased capitalization grants will suffer. Money, to the tune of $75 million, will be diverted to this particular PFAS grant program at the expense of the State revolving fund.…”