Tom Udall: “if the American people knew what was happening here I think they would be out in the streets in Washington, as we are…”

“if the American people knew what was happening here I think they would be out in the streets in Washington, as we are seeing in Wisconsin where people are turning out and are energized, because the rollback of these environmental laws is a rollback on public health. As Senator Merkley has discussed persuasively, we are talking about preventing heart attacks, preventing emergency room visits. In New Mexico alone over 170,000 residents suffer from asthma. Over 47,000 of those are children. Thousands suffer from respiratory illnesses. With the rollbacks in the House Republican budget, those folks will suffer a lot more. It is going to impact vulnerable populations. The House Republican budget puts hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans at greater risk from pollution, from powerplants, oil refineries, mines, and cement kilns. The Clean Air Act has had a very positive impact over the years that it has been a law. It has cut six major pollutants by over 40 percent. But air pollution still claims 70,000 lives per year, three times that of car accidents. So if we weaken that act by these riders and this approach in the House Republican budget, that number is going to rise. The number of lives claimed each year is going to rise. That is why one of the major organizations that monitors this, the American Lung Association, opposes these environmental rollbacks in the House bill.”