Jack Reed: “We have talked about the inducements for capital investment because of low environmental quality around the world. We…”

“We have talked about the inducements for capital investment because of low environmental quality around the world. We have talked about the effects on working men and women who are there in those factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Malaysia, throughout the East, and in Mexico. I suggest that this has a real impact in our own home communities, such as Baltimore, MD, and Providence, RI, where small business men and women are struggling to apply the environmental quality standards that we all passed and they agree with. We all see the benefits to our society and culture, but it is detrimental to their economic viability versus these countries across the sea. There is another factor, too. Just a few weeks ago, Senator Hagel and Senator Byrd came before this Senate with a resolution, Senate Resolution 98. It essentially said that we are not going to tolerate an environmental regime internationally that puts the burden of remediation and cleanup on the United States to the detriment of our economy.”