[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    LEGISLATION WHICH PROTECTS OUR PLANET SHOULD BE A CONGRESSIONAL 
                                PRIORITY

  (Mr. WARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, let me say first for the record that the 
buying power of the minimum wage is the lowest it has been in 40 years. 
To deny an increase in the minimum wage is reprehensible.
  Mr. Speaker, today I have risen to speak as we approach Earth Day, a 
day that Americans across the country come together to focus on the 
environment. I would like to call attention to the atrocious 
environmental record that the Republican majority has created. At a 
time when the EPA estimates that nearly 40 percent of the Nation's 
waters are unfit for fishing and swimming, we would think that clean 
water would be a priority.
  However, Mr. Speaker, the so-called Clean Water Act that the 
Republican majority passed last year, written mostly by corporate 
polluters, would create waivers and exemptions from previously 
established basic standards for our rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans.
  In short, protecting our environment means protecting our future. We 
have been entrusted to provide a future of clean air, lush forests, and 
clean water for our children and our children's children. Legislation 
which protects our planet should be a priority, not the Republican 
majority's laws that have encouraged its destruction.

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