Randy Weber: “I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, it seems that some of the things that we are hearing from the opponents of the bill…”

“I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, it seems that some of the things that we are hearing from the opponents of the bill are that the committee is going to be stacked with people from industry, from the States. It is as if the people from industry can't be trusted, people from States can't be trusted. Then we hear the theme that there was not a single Democratic vote to get this bill out. It almost sounds like the Affordable Care Act to me where people--recent revelations are one of the proponents has said that Americans were too stupid to understand, so that's why the Affordable Care Act had to be passed, and it couldn't have transparency because it would never have passed Congress. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1422. The Science Advisory Board, called the SAB--I guess we would say this is a ``sad SAB story''--was established by Congress to review the science behind the EPA's decisions and to advise Congress and the EPA on science and technical matters. Unfortunately, the SAB is no longer functioning as designed, without the impartiality and expertise needed to be an effective arbiter of EPA's use of science in its regulations. Why no transparency, Mr. Speaker? That is what we have got to ask. The American public deserves transparency. These are taxpayer dollars we are talking about. The membership of the SAB has excluded individuals from the State agencies and private sector.…”