John Yarmuth: “This has been a fascinating week in terms of the environment. We started it with the President orchestrating one of the…”

“This has been a fascinating week in terms of the environment. We started it with the President orchestrating one of the truly groundbreaking breakthroughs in carbon emissions and getting the Chinese, for the first time, to agree to limit their carbon emissions, setting new standards for the United States. Then this week, in the Congress, we basically have three bills that are the equivalent of saying, through statute, to polluters, ``Smoke 'em if you got 'em.'' I mean, three bills that represent one of the worst trifectas I have ever seen, and I come from horse racing country. Yesterday we voted on a bill that, in the title, suggests that we are somehow improving the science behind the environment, and basically what it did was limit the ability of EPA to have scientists as part of the decisionmaking process. Today we are discussing the so-called Promoting New Manufacturing Act, and, as we heard from my good friend from Kentucky, the goal of the legislation is to facilitate a manufacturing renaissance in the United States by expediting air permits for new facilities. But the premise of the bill is very flawed: new manufacturing facilities aren't being held back by clean air requirements; weakening the Clean Air Act won't create jobs; and the specific provisions of this bill will slow down permitting, not speed it up.…”