Sherwood Boehlert: “we are getting smarter as we go along. We have developed a very good bill that responds to a legitimate need of the…”

“we are getting smarter as we go along. We have developed a very good bill that responds to a legitimate need of the American people. That is to deal in a responsible manner with safe drinking water. The American people have said to us they want smaller, less costly, less intrusive government, and we are responding. But they do not want us to dismantle government and they for darn sure want us to be responsible in protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink, and the food we eat. This measure, the Safe Drinking Water Act, does just that. I would point out to my distinguished colleague from California this bill does not, let me repeat, this bill does not contain any earmarks. The bill does not include any site-specific provisions. EPA and the States have the authority to select their own priorities. Let me make that abundantly clear. This bill does not have any earmarks. This bill has some language making recommendations to the Environmental Protection Agency, but the Environmental Protection Agency is given free rein to make the best possible judgments consistent with the objectives of this legislation. Let me also point out that, if Congress fails to appropriate at least 75 percent of the authorization for the grants program and if the States and localities do not come up with at least a 50/50 cost sharing match, two very responsible ways to deal with the legislation, then all bets are off.”