Political Quotes

“I was going to speak about mercury, and I will get to that, but I really have to clarify for the Record and the public record. We keep hearing, and we've heard once again on this floor from our Republican colleagues, that the bill won't harm public health or weaken health standards, and this is just not accurate. It's really important, Mr. Chairman, for the public to understand that. In fact, section 2 of the bill lists four final clean air rules and says they shall have ``no force or effect.'' Section 3 of the bill eliminates the 3-year compliance deadline in the Clean Air Act and doesn't set any new deadline. And, for the record, section 5 of the bill directs the EPA to set weaker standards than the clean air requirements. So make no mistake. H.R. 2250, contrary to what the other side is saying, has real legal effect and consequence, and those effects weaken our protection from air pollution and harm the health of Americans, especially our children. Now, I recognize that there is a zeal for deregulation, but for clean air standards, for clean water standards, this really makes no sense. In fact, the bill throws out EPA's rules to require boilers and incinerators to reduce their emissions of toxic mercury. And unlike the statements that have been made on this floor, this comes in the wake of a bill to nullify EPA's rules to clean up cement kilns, and yet another bill to nullify EPA's rules to clean up power plants. When does it stop?…”