Maurice Hinchey: “I am pleased to support EPA for elevation to Cabinet status. The bipartisan support for this bill is a strong indicator…”

“I am pleased to support EPA for elevation to Cabinet status. The bipartisan support for this bill is a strong indicator of the Congress' belief that EPA needs to be part of the Cabinet. EPA will become a formal part of the President's inner circle--his Cabinet--the place where this country's public policy decisions are made. The Congress has recognized the importance of the environment to our citizens by enacting 12 major pieces of environmental legislation in the past 20 years, and given EPA responsibility for many other smaller statutes. Our enactment of these laws is a reflection of the value our citizens place on the environment, and on the health of their children and their national heritage. But we now know that environmental issues don't always receive the attention that our public demands because EPA has not always been present when national issues are decided at the White House. This bill will assure that EPA is always in that room and part of those policy discussions because they will be a formal member of the Cabinet, an equal to other Cabinet departments who have jurisdiction over the very areas that EPA regulates. We should not shirk from our responsibility to place EPA at a level of Government where its statutory responsibilities show that it belongs, and where it can operate in the best interests of the Government, and that national interest.”