Political Quotes

“I want to reemphasize the point that seems to have been missed by those who were opposed to this legislation and supportive of this gutting amendment; and that is that this legislation does nothing to limit the agency's ability to seek criminal penalties, to seek civil penalties and civil prosecution, to put an injunction in place and to pursue the bad actors or anyone that ought to be convicted of willful or negligent activity. We can prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. This is some relief for small businesses, relief only for first-time paperwork violations and provides full exemption when there is an imminent threat to public safety. The drinking water issues that were raised, lead poisoning, I think few would doubt that these are issues of public safety, a threat to public health; and that would certainly, in appropriate circumstances, be dealt with with the exemption of this legislation. I would urge my colleagues to oppose the Kucinich amendment and support paperwork relief for small businesses.”