Lamar Smith: “I thank the chairman for his comments. I very much appreciate his support. I reserve the balance of my time. Ms.…”

“I thank the chairman for his comments. I very much appreciate his support. I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition. The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 minutes. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment seeks to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing regulations through two different mechanisms. The first one would prevent the EPA from issuing regulations if supporting research data is withheld under the Freedom of Information Act. Second, it would withhold regulations if the Agency's Science Advisory Board does not provide the requested advice and information to Congress. I would just like to take a moment to address each one of these issues fully. Last year, for example, the EPA received 10,500 FOIA requests--Freedom of Information requests--or an average of 40 per workday. These requests required nearly $11 million--$11 million--in personnel costs to process; yet the EPA receives less than $1 million to collect fees for these requests. They get $11 million in personnel costs to process; yet they get less than $1 million to collect the fees for these requests. You can simply do the math. There are only nine allowable exemptions under the law that would prevent the EPA from complying with FOIA requests in the first place.…”