[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 IN SUPPORT OF EPA CABINET LEVEL STATUS

  (Mr. HINCHEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support EPA for elevation 
to Cabinet status.
  The bipartisan support for this bill is a strong indicator of the 
Congress' belief that EPA needs to be part of the Cabinet. EPA will 
become a formal part of the President's inner circle--his Cabinet--the 
place where this country's public policy decisions are made.
  The Congress has recognized the importance of the environment to our 
citizens by enacting 12 major pieces of environmental legislation in 
the past 20 years, and given EPA responsibility for many other smaller 
statutes. Our enactment of these laws is a reflection of the value our 
citizens place on the environment, and on the health of their children 
and their national heritage.
  But we now know that environmental issues don't always receive the 
attention that our public demands because EPA has not always been 
present when national issues are decided at the White House. This bill 
will assure that EPA is always in that room and part of those policy 
discussions because they will be a formal member of the Cabinet, an 
equal to other Cabinet departments who have jurisdiction over the very 
areas that EPA regulates.
  We should not shirk from our responsibility to place EPA at a level 
of Government where its statutory responsibilities show that it 
belongs, and where it can operate in the best interests of the 
Government, and that national interest. The environment is not a 
passing fad--it is an integral part of who we are as Americans--and it 
should be an integral part of the way this Government operates.

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