Jim Inhofe: “let me first respond to something the chairman of the committee, Senator Boxer, had stated. I believe I agree that our…”

“let me first respond to something the chairman of the committee, Senator Boxer, had stated. I believe I agree that our committee should have the jurisdiction. I do agree with her. There are some other things. In fact, there is an easier way to do it, I would suggest to my chairman. That would be to strike the portion in the bill, the underlying bill, that talks about the President or the administration and merely put in the EPA. If you do that, then, of course, you correct the jurisdictional problems. It is another way of doing it. My concern is that your amendment does get into some areas I do not find I get quite as excited about as the chairman does, such as having us study land-use patterns, which I do not think is as appropriate for the Federal Government to do as State and local government. We had this debate in the past. But I would say I would like to accomplish some of the things that the chairman has tried to accomplish with her amendments.”