Political Quotes

“I come to the floor in opposition to Andrew Wheeler's nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Americans across this country depend on EPA to protect their public health, yet under this administration, EPA has failed again and again to reassure my constituents that their basic rights to breathe in clean air and sip clean water are being prioritized. Listen, I am proud that EPA's Region 5 office is headquartered in Chicago. Region 5 has led the country in enforcing the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other bedrock environmental policies that Congress has passed. But under Mr. Wheeler and this administration, EPA has made it harder for the scientists, engineers, and public health experts in Region 5 to do their jobs. EPA is severely understaffed and underfunded, and in 2018, major enforcement actions dropped to their lowest levels in more than 10 years. Last year, EPA competed fewer than 11,000 inspections and evaluations of polluters across the country--the lowest number in almost two decades. In 2018, EPA sent just 123 civil pollution violation cases to the Justice Department for prosecution. That is about 40 percent less than the annual average during the Obama administration. So, sadly, it should come as no surprise that a report from the Environmental Integrity Project this month found that communities across the country are now being put at risk of exposure to dangerous contaminants.…”