Representative Sullivan said, "As House Republicans move forward with a bold agenda to grow our economy and put Americans back to work, one issue that must be addressed is overregulation by the federal government. I strongly believe the Obama Administration is moving too fast and showing little regard for the economic consequences of their energy and environmental policies. I introduced this bipartisan legislation to protect American jobsjobs that we are in danger of losing due to the Obama Administration's environmental regulatory agenda. The Train Act will force the EPA and other federal agencies to conduct an in-depth economic analysis of the rules and regulations so Congress and the American people can understand how the EPA's regulatory train wreck will impact our economy."
The bill had strong support from the business community. In a September 22, letter to Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) Chairman, Energy and Commerce Committee, former Michigan Governor John Engler and now President of BRT said his organization strongly supported H.R. 2401 and urged "swift House passage of this important legislation." Engler said, "The TRAIN Act would require an interagency analysis of the cumulative and incremental impacts of certain rules either pending or that recently have been finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pending completion of this analysis, the legislation also would stay the effectiveness of certain of the covered rules until at least six months after the day on which the interagency committee analysis has been finalized and transmitted to the Congress." He concluded, "The TRAIN Act directly addresses this issue with respect to certain EPA regulations in a thoughtful and creative way. We strongly support this legislation." Business Roundtable (BRT) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with over $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 14 million employees.
Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources delivered a lengthy Floor statement on the bill saying in part, "This Republican led House has initiated a full throttle 'repeal-a-thon' that denies science, delays regulations, and deters efforts to protect the health and security of millions of Americans. We keep hearing from Republicans about how EPA's clean air standards to reduce mercury, lead, dioxins and other pollutants need to be economically analyzed and re-analyzed. They insist that even if a standard for one toxic chemical was met by an entire industrial sector, the removal of just one more poisonous chemical would cause a domino effect of problems for industry, from loss of domestic manufacturing capacity to job loss to loss of electric reliability.
"And the solution to these supposed problems? It's a time tested Republican tradition. First, pass legislation that repeals regulations that have already been set. Second, require endless study of the cumulative impacts of all regulations on all industries. And finally, just for good measure, pass an amendment that guts the very underpinnings of the Clean Air Act. Make no mistake, that is what we are doing here today. . ."
Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) President issued a statement saying, "Today the U.S. House of Representatives made a stark choice, and put pollution over children's health. The TRAIN Act, if it becomes law, will result in more than 25,000 premature deaths in the first year alone, due to smog, soot, and toxic air pollution. There will be more than 175,000 more asthma attacks, many of them in children. This was no less than a fight about the integrity of the Clean Air Act, and clean air lost. Opponents of these common sense rules make the patently false argument that we can't have both clean air and a strong economy. Actually, analysis has shown that the economic benefits of enforcing the Clean Air Act outweigh the costs 30 to 1. . ."
Access a release from House Republicans on the passage of the bill (click here). Access the Floor statement from Rep. Sullivan's (click here) Access details of the roll call vote (click here). Access the support letter from BRT (click here). Access the OMB Statement of Administration Policy (click here). Access the statement from Rep. Waxman (click here). Access the Floor statement from Rep. Markey (click here). Access the statement from EDF (click here). Access the statement from NRDC (click here). Access legislative details for H.R. 2401 (click here). [#Air]
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