Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, we are in some tough times, but I believe it's important to have a structure in this government that provides oversight over the environment of this country. And however one may quarrel with regulations that may seem a little steep, the work of the Environmental Protection Agency is important. And as we stand here today, this legislation cuts the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by 18 percent, in addition to a 16 percent cut in funding for FY 2011. Thirty-four percent. This is unacceptable. In order to protect the environment without harming industry, we must reach a compromise, instead of haphazardly slashing the EPA budget. These cuts purposely limit the EPA's ability to ensure that all Americans have access to drinking water that does not contain harmful pathogens and toxins that expose Americans to serious risk such as typhoid, hepatitis, cancer, and organ damage. The assault on public health does not stop with the quality of our drinking water. This bill also takes drastic steps to weaken the Clean Air Act. A rider is attached that will prevent the EPA from implementing the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, a regulation that was implemented to protect the public from dangerous air pollution and prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 heart attacks, and 400,000 cases of aggregated asthma. I've never seen an EPA director work as hard as Administrator Lisa Jackson.…”