On the recordJune 10, 2010
I rise in support of Senator Murkowski's resolution that would ensure this Congress keeps its responsibility to establish our Nation's environmental regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency's move to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act is an economic and bureaucratic nightmare in the making that is going to have a devastating effect on our economy and put a regulatory stranglehold on businesses and individuals across the country. The Congressional Review Act was passed in 1996 to make sure Congress could step in when Federal agencies got off track. It was a bipartisan bill because Senators and Representatives recognized we should not hand off our responsibility for setting Federal policy to Federal agencies. So when Federal agencies get off track, we have a way to bring them back to reality. We need to bring the EPA back to reality on the catastrophe that regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act would create because if we don't, it will be consumers and businesses-- both small business and big business in every sector of our economy-- that will end up paying more than they can afford for these regulations.