[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PAYING MORE AND GETTING LESS

  (Mr. MICA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, we have heard the other side bash the 
Republicans about environmental policy. Unfortunately they do not want 
to deal with the facts.
  We heard them mention 40 percent of the streams still polluted in the 
country, or whatever percentage. That is under current law. Let us look 
at Superfund, one of their great examples that they want to protect as 
we do now. Over 2,000 sites have been identified for hazardous waste. 
How many have been cleaned up? Just a handful, less than 70, at a cost 
of billions of dollars.
  Where does 85 percent of the money go? For attorneys fees and for 
studies. That is what we are talking about here. We are talking about 
paying more and getting less.
  Of the sites that were cleaned up, a GAO report last year said the 
sites were chosen on the basis of political pressure, those few sites 
that did not address public health, safety or welfare. So they want to 
pay more and get less. They want to protect the 6,000 bureaucrats in 
Washington, DC, and EPA just down the street from here, who have not 
cleaned up a hazardous waste site and would not recognize one if it hit 
them in the face.

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