Kendra S. Horn: “recently I introduced legislation, H.R. 2694, to elevate the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to a permanent…”

“recently I introduced legislation, H.R. 2694, to elevate the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to a permanent Cabinet-level position. It has been 31 years since the EPA was first established, and I would suggest to my colleagues that this legislation is long overdue. This is not the first time the House of Representatives has been asked to consider this legislation, and indeed it is not even the first bill on the subject this year. But in many respects, it is a better bill than its predecessors, and I hope it will move swiftly through the legislative process. On December 2, 1970, our Nation marked its first major environmental milestone by establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. In so doing, then President Richard Nixon stated, "I am making an exception to one of my own principles: that, as a matter of effective and orderly administration, additional new independent agencies normally should not be created. Because environmental protection cuts across so many jurisdictions and because environmental deterioration is of great importance to the quality of life in our country and the world, I believe that in this case a strong, independent agency is needed." President Nixon's overriding concern to be addressed by the establishment of the EPA was that although numerous parts of the Government may have been sympathetic to protecting environmental quality, no one distinct department existed to focus solely on our environment.”