Senate Proceeding 03-15-11 on Mar 15th, 2011 :: 1:43:50 to 1:59:25
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1:43:46 to 1:44:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: generally agree with what i've had to say here? mrs. boxer: we will, i say to my friend, not only do i generally agree, i agree wholeheartedly. and let me show you a picture of a couple of kids. we have a couple of picture i would love my friend to look at this.

1:43:50 to 1:59:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

1:44:07 to 1:44:27( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: these beautiful children. because they say a picture is worth 1,000 word. it is worth a million words. this baby having to go to a mask to breathe the air because the air is so foul. and then we have another picture of another child, friend.

1:44:28 to 1:44:48( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: i'm sure he's seen this. look at this. this little one -- i don't know. i am a grandma. i'd say, we're talking beneficiary to me it looks like three years old, maybe even younger. knowing how and here's another one.

1:44:49 to 1:45:09( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: this beautiful child. and the answer i give to my friend, thanking him for his passion, this is what he's dealt with with one of his grandkids. the fear, the blood-curdling fear, as my friend has said over and over, that when he's out and playing a sport he might have to

1:45:10 to 1:45:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: rush to an emergency room. and my friend's daughter having to know in advance where the nearest emergency room is. i say to the american people, this is an attack on our children. this amendment is an attack on our children. and let me prove it to you. i will prove it to you.

1:45:31 to 1:45:51( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we have the leading health experts have just sent us a letter telling us it's an attack on our children. and i would put any senator up against these groups for an argument, for a debate. when i hear from the american lung association, when i hear from the american public health

1:45:52 to 1:46:13( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: association, when i hear from the american thoracic society, when i hear from the asthma and allergy foundation, when i hear from physicians across this country, trust for america's health, and they say beat this mcconnell amendment, it's dangerous, i listen. and so should every american.

1:46:14 to 1:46:34( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: i don't care if you're a republican, you're a democrat, but let me tell you the senator from alaska was railing against the environmental protection agency. let's see what the american people think of environmental protection agency. there was just a bipartisan poll done by a republican pollster

1:46:35 to 1:46:55( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and a democratic pollster. 69% of americans think e.p.a. should update the clean air act standards with stricter air pollution limits. the mcconnell amendment says to e.p.a., you may not do this. you may not update air pollution standards as it relates to carbon pollution.

1:46:56 to 1:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: 68% -- now listen, we're a country that's polarized about a lot of things. i appreciate that. i often say i just came out of an election that was tough. but 68% of the people believe congress should not stop e.p.a. from enforcing clean air act standards. let me repeat: 68% of the american people -- this poll was

1:47:18 to 1:47:38( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: just done on february 16. this is very recent. 68% believe congress should not stop e.p.a. from enforcing clean air act standards. and guess what the mcconnell amendment does? it stops -- it stops the e.p.a. from enforcing clean air act standards. 69% believe that e.p.a.

1:47:39 to 1:48:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: scientists -- not congress -- should set pollution standards. and what does this amendment do? it says that mitch mcconnell and jim inhofe, my buddy, my pal -- we are friends, but on this one we're on opposite sides. opposite sides. i stand with the american people on this one.

1:48:01 to 1:48:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: 69% says e.p.a. scientists, not congress, should set pollution standards. why do you think that would be, madam president? 69%, this means people polled in alabama, mississippi, florida, california, new hampshire; doesn't matter. this is a huge number. why do you think they think that?

1:48:22 to 1:48:44( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: common sense. you trust doctors and scientists to tell you what's good for you, not politicians. period. and we have, we have members of congress who were doctors. but i have to say to you some of them come out against the

1:48:45 to 1:49:07( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: science and the doctors, because they've given that up, they're politicians now. so here's the deal. we have an amendment by mitch mcconnell. it's actually taken straight from the upton bill in the house and the inhofe bill in the senate, that stops e.p.a. in its tracks from updating clean air

1:49:08 to 1:49:31( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: act standards, so that we have a standard for carbon pollution, which is dangerous. who tells us it's dangerous? the doctors. who tells us it's dangerous? the scientists. who made an endangerment finding? the environmental protection agency. let me tell you something about the environmental protection agency that people forget.

1:49:32 to 1:49:54( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: do you know, i ask rhetorically, madam president, who actually came up with the idea of an environmental protection agency in the 1970's? richard nixon. everyone knows richard nixon was a republican. and, by the way, i have the same senate seat that he once held. in this we are in agreement.

1:49:55 to 1:50:15( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the e.p.a. was a brilliant idea. why? because guess what? if you can't breathe, you can't work. and i say to my friends today, you may think you're doing something good for the economy by telling the e.p.a. to go into their rooms and forget about their jobs. when people start getting more

1:50:16 to 1:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: asthma, when there's premature death, you'll think about again. let me show you what happened in los angeles since the clean air act was passed. this is an amazing graph. i hope people can see this clearly. in the 1970's when richard nixon and the congress voted the clean air act in -- and it was sroetd

1:50:38 to 1:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: in with a -- voted in with a huge, huge majority. i don't even have it in front of me but it was overwhelming. in los angeles -- follow this -- 166 days were lost where people were told they had to stay in. sensitive people.

1:50:59 to 1:51:19( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: now i remember those years. used to go on the radio to make sure it was safe to go out if you had a tkeud with as -- if you had a kid with asthma or you had a mom who had a breathing problem. more than half the year in those years you couldn't go out of your house. think about what that says about the economy, when people are

1:51:20 to 1:51:41( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: trapped inside their houses. think about what it means to their freedom of movement. and think about what it means to the economy when so many people have to stay home and not go to work and not go to school. now over the years as the e.p.a. started to do its job, the environmental protection agency, we started to see fewer and

1:51:42 to 1:52:03( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: fewer lost days, where people could actually go out. and i am proud to tell you, madam president, in 2010 in los angeles, which was once the smog capital of this nation, not one day was there an advisory. not one day. not one day. what more of a success rate can

1:52:04 to 1:52:24( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: you have? now you want to see more success? we'll show you more success. we'll show you some of benefits in another way. the congress said to the e.p.a., we want to make sure there are benefits that go along with your enforcement of the clean air act so that when you go to a company

1:52:25 to 1:52:47( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: that's belching smoke and you say you've got to install some cleanup devices, that it really is working. okay? what did we find out? in 2010 the clean air act prevented 160,000 cases of premature deaths.

1:52:48 to 1:53:08( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: now you understand why the heart doctors and the lung doctors and the physicians and the public health doctors are telling you don't vote for mcconnell? it will turn the clock back. we saved 160,000 lives in 2010 alone. alone.

1:53:09 to 1:53:32( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and projected out, it's going to go way higher of premature deaths averted if we move forward with the clean air act and we don't substitute politicians for doctors and scientists. so clearly, we're on the rig

1:53:33 to 1:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: track. what else? i told you in prevent even more deaths. 230,000, to be exact, by 2020. and i say to my friends, i don't care if you're a republican, democrat, liberal, conservative,

1:53:54 to 1:54:15( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: in between, an independent, whatever you are, this has nothing to do with politics. this has to do with our families. this has to do with our health. that's why we see 69% of the people say congress butt out of this. let the e.p.a. do its work. and that's why a defeat of the

1:54:16 to 1:54:37( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: mcconnell amendment means that we are standing with the doctors, we are standing with the scientists, and more than anything else, we're standing with the kids. we're standing with these beautiful kids, these kids who at age three are having to learn how to bring in oxygen because

1:54:38 to 1:54:58( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: they can't go outside because the air is dirty. whose side are we on? are we on the side of this baby and his family or are we on the side of the biggest polluters in the country who are making billions of dollars, they're doing fine, and all they have to do is do a little bit more to

1:54:59 to 1:55:19( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: clean up the air. by the way, we had lots of arguments over the years. and every time we had clean air act amendments, people argued don't do it. the air is clean enough. stop. enough. business can't do it. guess what we found out? not only did business step up to the plate and do it, but what

1:55:20 to 1:55:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: was created was an incredible export business, exports of clean air products, technologies, machinery, the best available technology made in america. so we are talking about taking the lead on clean air and keeping it.

1:55:44 to 1:56:05( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: not retreating. and we rember when the berlin wall came down, everyone said hooray. but then they could see the air suddenly on the other side, and germany did the right thing and they said, well, we're going to clean up the air here in eastern europe because without clean air, you can't have growth. i'm very happy to see my friend on the floor from washington state.

1:56:06 to 1:56:26( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: i'm going to yield to her for a question. but i want her to know, senator cantwell, how much i rely on her leadership on this. maria cantwell has been a leader from the very beginning on clean air, clean water, safe drinking water, cleaning up superfund sites.

1:56:27 to 1:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and she never, never flinches. and the last thing i would say before i yield to her for a question is i started off my debate by telling you what my friends on the other side call their amendment. they call it the energy tax prevention act. and i've already told you why it

1:56:49 to 1:57:11( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: really should be called the more air pollution for every american act. or if you don't like that, it could be called rely on foreign oil forever act. that's what it really is, because it stops us from cleaning up our air, which the people definitely do not support. 69% of the people in a

1:57:12 to 1:57:34( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: bipartisan poll. and, and let me tell you this, and i would ask unanimous consent to place this in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: this is the truthometer from politifact. that is an independent web site that judges the truth of these claims. and they looked at this amendment and guess what they said?

1:57:35 to 1:57:55( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the claim is false that gasoline price would go down. false. so beware of things that are called good names, but when you get behind them you see they're not good. they're dangerous. this is a red flag coming from me to everybody watching this debate.

1:57:56 to 1:58:18( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: this bill would tell the e.p.a. they can no longer do their job. e.p.a., one of the most popular agencies in the nation, 69% of the people saying do their job. and it would in essence stop us from making more fuel-efficient cars because it would just say states can't do more. and that would mean reliance on foreign oil. i'm happy to yield to my friend

1:58:19 to 1:58:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: for a question, my friend from washington. ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president, can i just inquire something? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: how long do you think the senator from washington will proceed? and how long, senator boxer? mrs. boxer: i plan t as long as colleagues come and want to ask questions.

1:58:40 to 1:59:01( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and then i will -- i could go until about 5:00. ms. landrieu: because senator snowe has an amendment. mrs. boxer: we already allowed her. i will continue yielding without losi because there will be a question. ms. landrieu: do you think senator snowe can go after senator cantwell? mrs. boxer: i don't.

1:59:02 to 1:59:22( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we're taking our time. i want to say through the chair to our friend this amendment is so radical it's far beyond any other amendment we've had on the subject. so i'm not going to yield the floor until i've gotten people a chance on my side to ask questions about it. and i intend to hold the floor at this point. i can't give you a time that i will stop. i'm also very willing to have a

1:59:23 to 1:59:27( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: vote on this at a time that we can mutually agree to. but at this point i won't be