Frank Pallone: “Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleagues of the cost of air pollution to the American people because it seems…”

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleagues of the cost of air pollution to the American people because it seems they are only focused on the cost to their polluter friends. More than 26 million people, including over 4.5 million children, in the U.S. live with asthma. Asthma causes nearly 1.8 million emergency department visits, more than 94,000 hospitalizations, and an estimated $80 billion in healthcare costs annually. Air pollution is known to cause and exacerbate asthma. Republicans claim that existing regulatory processes, like exceptional events demonstrations, are too hard and take too long. They don't acknowledge why we have these processes in the first place, and that is to protect the health of our families, our children, and the most vulnerable among them. The FIRE Act would worsen health harms to our communities. While the Clean Air Act has successfully cut air pollution in the U.S. by nearly 80 percent in its over 50-year history, nearly half of the U.S. population still lives in areas with poor air quality. We should be taking action to protect public health, not rolling back safeguards that the Republicans find inconvenient. The FIRE Act has serious problems that allow industry to exploit hot days and drought to drive up pollution without consequence. That is the problem. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.”