Senate Proceeding on Apr 6th, 2011 :: 6:07:40 to 6:18:20
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6:07:36 to 6:07:58( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i'm here because i want to urge a "no" vote on all these amendments that essentially stop the environmental protection agency from doing their work, as it relates to air pollution.

6:07:40 to 6:18:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

6:07:59 to 6:08:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and i'm here to do that because never before have we ever interfered in a enforcement of the clean air act and it's worked because we have seen tremendous, tremendous advances in our clean air. pollutants cause or contribute to asthma, emphysema, heart

6:08:22 to 6:08:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: disease and other potentially lethal respiratory ailments and we know from the work of the bush administration and that of the obama administration that the endangerment finding that said that greenhouse gases were danger us for our health predicted that ground-level ozone would increase if we did nothing and we'd have more cases

6:08:44 to 6:09:04( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: of asthma and coughing and people staying home from school and staying home from work. the e.p.a.'s endangerment finding is key, and here's what they told us. "severe heat waives are projected to intense fishings which can increase heat-related deaths and sickness. remember, this is related to carbon pollution, greenhouse gases.

6:09:05 to 6:09:25( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: exactly what my colleagues are trying to either slow down cleaning up or stop cleaning up. in an unprecedented assault on our nation's health -- unprecedented assault on our nation's health. we even have had a senator stand up here and say that e.p.a. doesn't have the right to

6:09:26 to 6:09:48( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: regulate carbon pollution, greenhouse gas emissions. i would urge my person that everyone else saying that to read the clean air act. it's so clear shall did and by the way, the bush administration didn't want to enforce the clean air act, and they went all the way to the supreme court, and the supreme court said, uh-huh -- it's very clear in the clean

6:09:49 to 6:10:10( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: air act that, yes, congress meant that we should control this type of dangerous pollution, once an endangerment find is made. and that was made. what the mcconnell amendment does, which my friend jim inhofe was actually the author of the full bill, same thing, is

6:10:11 to 6:10:31( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: essentially say that the e.p.a. is overridden -- they repeal the endangerment finding. that's like my coming here and saying, i want to repeal science that says that smoking causes lung cancer. okay? i want to play doctor. i want to play scientist.

6:10:32 to 6:10:52( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: it's absolutely a dangerous precedent because it involves our people. and climate change is expected to worsen regional smog pollution, which can cause decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, increased emergency room visits and premature death. why on earth do my colleagues

6:10:53 to 6:11:13( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: want to repeal an endangerment finding -- by the way, senator murkowski once tried it; it failed. and it's going to fail here today. but the fact is, why should we play doctor? i know we have a -- some of us have a great elevation of ourselves. but, please, we don't have -- acouple have doctor degrees, but

6:11:14 to 6:11:36( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: most of us aren't scientists and doctors. we act like we are. and i'm just too humble to repeal, you know, science, and that's what they'd do here. now, let's look at the health successes of the clean air act. in 2010 alone, the act prevented 160,000 premature deaths, 1.7 million asthma attacks, 130,000

6:11:37 to 6:12:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: heart attacks, and 3.2 million lost days of school. i'm telling you, the clean air act has been a great success. th health advisories in southern california has dropped from 166 days in 1976 to zero days in 2010

6:12:01 to 6:12:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: why on earth would we want to mess with a law that has been working? it has been working. i defy anyone to point out a law worked as well as this one. we went from 166 days in los angeles where people were told

6:12:22 to 6:12:44( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: not to go out doors to zero days in 2010. because the e.p.a. -- created by a republican president, richard nixon -- job. does its job. look at the bipartisan support for the clean air act. first of all, it passed the

6:12:45 to 6:13:05( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: senate 73-0, the house 375-1. and the conference report was approved unanimously, and now suddenly i can't find a republican to say they fully support the clean air act. what has happened to my friends on the other side of the aisle? this was a bipartisan issue. it certainly is with the people.

6:13:06 to 6:13:28( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: in 1990, we had a bipartisan vote sonde by president george herbert walker bush. senate: 89-10, house: 401-25. that's why so many people in this country still support t clean air act. let's look at that -- results of that bipartisan poll that we had. bipartisan support.

6:13:29 to 6:13:49( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: it was by richard nixon, republican president george herbert walker bush signed the reauthorization, and 69% of people in this nation -- and this is a poll that's -- was taken february 14 of this year -- say that the environmental protection agency

6:13:50 to 6:14:12( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: should update clean air act standards with stricter air pollution limits. listen, stricter air pollution limits. now, the polluters don't like it. they're -- they're crying all the way to the bank. they had the biggest profits they ever had the oil companies. they don't want the e.p.a. enforcing the law.

6:14:13 to 6:14:33( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and, by the way, my colleagues' name this amendment something like the gas reduction price act, car something like that. they say this is going to help us stop gas prices from risings. it has nothing to do with it. you know, every time we move

6:14:34 to 6:14:54( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: forward with the clean air act authorities, there are predictions from all the polluters about how horrible it will be, and we never had such a period of prosperity. since ri -- since richard nixon signed the clean air act. 68% say congress stay out of the

6:14:55 to 6:15:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: clean air act act. leave them alone; don't change it. this amendment by mcconnell and the others all interfere. 69% say e.p.a. scientists, not congress, should set pollution standards. this mcconnell amendment and the others all put congress in the middle of this. guess what? the people are smart.

6:15:18 to 6:15:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: they don't want politicians deciding what to do about their health. they don't come to us when they have asthma. they don't come to us when they get cancer. they rely on physicians. they rely on scientists. but we're playing doctor here today. we're going to repeal, or they're trying to repeal the

6:15:40 to 6:16:02( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: endangerment finding that went along with the e.p.a. deciding to move forward and enforce decreases in carbon pollution. now, "the washington post" on march 24 had article in it, an op-ed piece

6:16:03 to 6:16:23( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: signed by christie todd e.p.a. administrator, from 2001 and 2003 and william rubbing william rucklehaus. you know what they said? today the agency richard nixon

6:16:24 to 6:16:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: created in response to the public outcry over air pollution and flammable rivers is under siege. the senate is poised to vote on a bill that would for the first time disapprove of a scientifically based finding, in this case that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. and this is signed by two republican former heads of the

6:16:46 to 6:17:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: environmental protection i'm telling you that the mcconnell amendment is radical in the extreme. we never before played doctor and repealed a scientific finding that said a certain solution is a problem.

6:17:07 to 6:17:27( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: they also say it's easy to forget how far we've come in the past 40 years. we should take heart from all the progress and not, as some in congress have suggested, seek to tear down the agency that the president and congress created to protect ame environment. so if you're interested in bipartisanship around here, why

6:17:28 to 6:17:49( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: don't we look at the facts. and the facts are that the american public supports e.p.a. and the clean air act. the facts are that richard nixon created the e.p.a. the facts are george herbert walker bush signed the clean air act amendment. and the facts are -- and i will finish with this -- that it is

6:17:50 to 6:18:11( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: very clear in the clean air act that carbon pollution and any pollution related to climate change is covered. so this is a reality check from someone who believes we shouldn't go down this dangerous path of playing doctor, playing scientist, overturning the environmental protection agency which enjoys almost 70% support among the people of this

6:18:12 to 6:18:20( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: greatest of all nations. i thank you very much, and i would