Jay Inslee: “Anyone who has ever seen a child gasping for breath due to a persistent asthma problem, which are most of us in America…”

“Anyone who has ever seen a child gasping for breath due to a persistent asthma problem, which are most of us in America, should be adamantly opposed to this amendment, because it would strip the legal right and obligation of Uncle Sam to protect our children's right to breathe. Now I just heard something incredible from one of my Republican colleagues. They said they were astounded at the precept that Uncle Sam has that responsibility. Well, you know we've had that responsibility for 40 years. Under the guidance of the idea of Teddy Roosevelt and Republican Richard Nixon, we adopted the Clean Air Act 40 years ago, through a bipartisan effort. And that Clean Air Act has prevented 18 million cases of respiratory problems in our kids, 840,000 severe asthma hospitalizations and 200,000 deaths. And as a result of that success, do you know what the Republican Party wants to do tonight? They want to effectively repeal the Clean Air Act when it comes to these gases. And these are not benign gases. Carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons. They want to hide and say we're not repealing the Clean Air Act, we're just making it illegal to enforce it. It won't do to say we're going to make it illegal for the FBI to arrest terrorists.…”