Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, our ranking member, for yielding. It is with regret that I must stand here today…”

“I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, our ranking member, for yielding. It is with regret that I must stand here today in opposition to this bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act. We have negotiated in good faith for many months to try to reach an agreement to fix EPA's chemical program. While there are some positive aspects of this bill, ultimately, I believe it falls short. Before I go into detail about my concerns, I want to express my appreciation for the work that has been done by both the majority and minority colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee. I want to commend the staffs, in particular those with whom I worked most closely from the minority side. As we just heard from Chairman Upton, the Senate passed a version in December of last year, after we had voted nearly unanimously to support our version of the bill. There are improvements over the bill passed by the Senate in December with this measure.…”