Political Quotes

“I am prepared to close. Madam Chair, at the risk of sounding repetitive from what I have said in several other amendments, Congress is not capable of making the judgments--the thousands and millions of judgments--on specifics like how many parts of arsenic per billion in the atmosphere is safe? What should the tolerance of a braking system in the automobile be? How many units of radiation can a person tolerate that is worth risking in an MRI or a CAT scan? That is why Congress has delegated to agencies, which we created, the power to make these decisions which we are not competent to make, the thousands and thousands of specific decisions on scientific and other questions; mostly scientific questions. {time} 1330 The REINS Act is a very bad piece of legislation because it would say that the agencies can't do this, that Congress must do it, and we don't have the capacity. We don't have the time, and we don't have the knowledge. How many people here know how many units of radiation are safe? How many hearings must be conducted for the thousands or even millions of decisions that must be made each year? The REINS Act is a bad idea. This amendment, in effect, expands the REINS Act to include interpretive rules and general statements of policy. It makes it even more impossible. Therefore, it makes a very bad bill worse, and I oppose it and urge its defeat. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR.…”