Craig Washington: “Mr. Speaker, is there a cost-benefit when you have dirty water and dirty air, and our children cannot live and breathe?…”

“Mr. Speaker, is there a cost-benefit when you have dirty water and dirty air, and our children cannot live and breathe? I think not. Mr. Speaker, this bill has enough in it already. I think Members who are going to vote for the bill on final passage, but hide behind these gutting amendments, ought to come out from behind them and have the courage, that if they are opposed to EPA, then they ought to, by God, just vote against EPA. Do not try to hide behind this so-called risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. Mr. Speaker, one final thing: when people talk about risk assessment and they talk about cost-benefit analysis, I want them to remember one incident. The beginning of cost-benefit analysis is when the Ford Pinto automobile and the Ford manufacturer knew that the gas tank, upon a rear-end collision, would explode. But they decided, based on cost-benefit analysis, that it was cheaper to go ahead and pay for the people who would die in a fiery death in an automobile accident than it was to recall all the vehicles and replace the part. Mr. Speaker, we do not want that to happen to our environment.”