Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. In the 19th century, mercury, another common mining waste, was used as a cure-all for toothaches and other ailments. It turns out that the mercury is also highly toxic. It causes severe impacts on the brain and, throughout history, has been identified as the poison behind many other notable illnesses and deaths in the history of our planet. By defining nuisance dust this way, the Republicans are, essentially, providing the mining industry with the holiday gift of pollution. Instead of gold and frankincense and myrrh, the Republicans are bearing gifts of arsenic and lead and mercury for every family in our country. My amendment simply states that so-called nuisance dust doesn't include poisonous arsenic or other heavy metals that are hazardous to human health, because cancer is not a nuisance. The development of a child's brain is not a nuisance. Yet the Republicans would treat these conditions as a nuisance rather than as medical catastrophes for the families of America. So let's be clear what this bill is all about. This is another attempt by the Republicans to protect Big Coal by creating another loophole to avoid the Clean Air Act so that families don't have to worry that their children are inhaling these dangerous materials, the arsenic, the lead, the mercury that they are petrified are going to have a negative long-term impact on their children's development. {time} 1250 That's what this is all about, bottom line.…”