On the recordFebruary 11, 2011
I would like to thank Chairman Lucas for the time to speak on an issue that is near to my heart. Madam Speaker, I came to Washington, hoping to bring some common sense to a city sorely lacking it. We have too many regulations being written by too many bureaucrats who have no idea what the real world is like. And let me give you one real-world example. Regulators at the EPA think that dust poses a serious health and pollution threat and have proposed significant reductions in the amount of dust that can be in the air. It's dry and it's windy in western Kansas, where I come from. So when we drive on the dirt roads common to rural America, we turn up dust in the air. To keep this from happening, the EPA recommends spraying dirt on the dry roads twice a day. Obviously they have never been to Kansas before. Kansans are hardworking people; and we don't have time to do this and, frankly, Madam Speaker, nor do we have the water to spray on these roads. I welcome the opportunity this resolution provides for us to bring these regulators in and give them a picture of what life is like in the real world outside of Washington. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of House Resolution 72.
