On the recordJuly 12, 2019
I thank my colleague for her leadership on this issue, and for yielding. This amendment is really simple. It requires polluters who have contaminated drinking water with PFAS chemicals to clean it up. The amendment has the support of the Armed Services Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I thank the chairs of those committees for their help. It also has the support of the International Association of Firefighters and the National Farmers Union because they know how important it is to clean up PFAS. Communities like the community of Oscoda, in the northern part of my district, have waited too long for the Defense Department to act. This is a step toward getting these dangerous chemicals out of the ground and out of our groundwater. I do understand that some groups are concerned about this amendment, utilities and airports. We pledge to work with them as this legislation moves through conference to make sure that we deal with the concerns that they raise. But this is simple. This says that we are going to protect public health. Every day that we fail to act, the cost of PFAS cleanup just gets more expensive. I encourage my colleagues to support this important amendment and to support the underlying bill.
