Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the bill. The REINS Act would create new obstacles to the promulgation of regulations designed to protect American workers' health and safety and to protect the environment. It would jeopardize the economy by impeding regulations for financial services and throw sand in the gears of government efforts to address growing inequality and prevent discrimination. Congress already has the right to disapprove any rule through the Congressional Review Act or through appropriations bills or other legislation. This bill would essentially impose a procedural chokehold by requiring that any major rule receive affirmative House and Senate approval within 70 legislative days. As an example of the effect of this bill, we note that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, is in the process of updating a nearly 70-year-old standard to keep workers from contracting a progressive and frequently fatal lung disease called chronic beryllium disease. In the 1940s, workers at the Atomic Energy Commission plants were contracting acute beryllium poisoning. To deal with the problem, two of their scientists sitting in the back of a taxicab on the way to a meeting agreed to set the beryllium exposure limit at 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Established back in 1948, that standard is still in place today and is often called ``the taxicab standard'' because there was no data supporting that number.…”