Political Quotes

“Madam President, it is a pleasure to join my colleague from New Mexico to discuss both the general environment, the environment in which we no longer have strong bipartisan support for clean air and clean water that we once had, and some of the specifics of the House Republican budget and the damage that would do to American citizens. Just to give a small sense of this, in 2010 the Clean Air Act prevented 1.7 million asthma attacks, 130,000 heart attacks, and 86,000 emergency room visits. That is why leading public health experts oppose these cuts, groups such as the American Lung Association, which said: ``H.R. 1 is toxic to public health.'' Why is that the case? I will give a couple examples and then turn back to my colleague. One example is that it would prohibit standards for toxic air pollution, including mercury, lead, arsenic, dioxin, and acid gases coming from coal-burning powerplants. A second is that it would prohibit standards for toxic air pollution coming from industries burning coal and oil. A third is that it would prohibit guidance on how to protect clean drinking water from mountain top mining. A fourth is it would prohibit standards for handling hazardous waste from burning coal just 2 years after a disaster in Tennessee caused 1 billion gallons of coal waste to spill into people's neighborhoods and homes. I have a longer list, but I will stop there and note that these impacts on water and air occur to citizens in every State under H.R.…”