James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill developed through a bad process, and ought to be badly defeated. It has a disarming…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill developed through a bad process, and ought to be badly defeated. It has a disarming title: Small Business Liability Relief. But it is nothing other than a wolf in sheep's clothing. It relieves large businesses of the responsibility for cleanup of toxic wastes such as dioxin, PCBs, nerve gas, by simply letting them include those substances in their trash. That is an egregious circumvention of the Superfund law. It puts at risk the health and welfare of the public in order to give oil, chemical and other industries a windfall benefit. Our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure worked for 6 years to develop a bipartisan bill that could have broad support. We reported that bill out by a vote of 69 to 2. It may not be perfect, but it reflects good faith and hard work. This bill does not. Our bill addressed responsible liability relief for small businesses and makes the liability system more flexible and fair for all parties. This bill does not. The key element of our bill was that it was paid for. It called for the reinstatement of Superfund taxes, guaranteeing cleanup for the next 8 years. This bill creates a favored class of businesses, absolves them of liability, and leaves it up to taxpayers and other parties to pick up the tab.”