[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3660-H3661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REPUBLICANS AND EARTH DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, April 22, was Earth Day, the 
26th anniversary of Earth Day. Because we were not in session 
yesterday, we had an opportunity to be in our districts and in my case 
in New Jersey and to celebrate the day by participating in various 
events and talking about some of the environmental issues that are 
important to America these days.
  It is very unfortunate though that last year, in 1995, when Speaker 
Gingrich and the Republican majority and the Republican leadership 
first took office and it was the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, we saw 
a systematic effort on the part of the Republican majority, the 
Republican leadership, to try to tear down 25 years of environmental 
progress that had been made on a bipartisan basis in this Congress and 
with the cooperation of Presidents, again both Democrat and Republican.
  Today, because of the fact that many in the Republican leadership--
specifically the Speaker--saw that the efforts, those efforts to tear 
down environmental protection, to weaken environmental laws, to not 
provide funding for enforcement and for investigation against 
polluters, because that effort did not meet a favorable response with 
the American public and because the polling the Republican leadership 
did showed very emphatically that the public did not like the 
antienvironmental tactics that the Republican majority here was taking, 
all of a sudden now we see Speaker Gingrich and the Republican majority 
saying that, or trying to give the impression that, somehow they are 
pro-environment.
  Today for the first time we have three or more environmentally 
friendly bills that are going to be brought to the floor of the House. 
It is no accident that it is the day after Earth Day. Just like 
planting trees and visiting zoos and other things that Gingrich had 
suggested that Republican Members do, now he is proposing legislation 
on the day after Earth Day to try to basically give the impression that 
the GOP is environmental friendly. They are not. Like a wolf dressed in 
sheep's clothing, many of the Republicans in this body are trying to 
give off the false appearance of concern for the environment and the 
health and safety of the American people. But they have worked 
consistently in this Congress to gut successful environmental laws such 
as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Superfund, and the Safe 
Drinking Water Act. They have voted to substantially reduce funding for 
key environmental agencies such as the EPA and the Interior Department. 
They have tied the hands of these agencies by attaching 
antienvironmental riders onto their appropriation bills.
  These bills that we will be voting on today are nothing more than a 
figleaf being used to hide the shameful voting record of many 
Republican Members on the environment. Unfortunately, the leaf they 
have chosen just is not big enough.

[[Page H3661]]

  I want to use this chart to talk about the battery recycling bill, 
which is going to come up today and is a very good bill; but many of 
the Republicans cannot hide, by voting for this bill today, their 
previous votes on issued that are related.
  For example, most of them voted--if I could turn this over, Mr. 
Speaker--basically against protecting children from arsenic in their 
drinking water. They voted against adequate funding for our Nation's 
toxic waste cleanup programs. They voted to stop the EPA from 
protecting Americans from exposure to arsenic, dioxin, lead, and other 
cancer causing pollutants and to allow corporate polluters to dump up 
to 70,000 chemicals into our Nation's rivers, lakes and streams and, 
finally, to allow industry to pollute our drinking water.

  I want to make certain that the American public knows what is going 
on here today on the floor of this House. I will be supporting these 
bills today, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the battery recycling 
bill, the national wildlife refuge bills, and I have supported pro-
environment initiatives throughout this Congress. Unfortunately, many 
of my friends on the other side of the aisle cannot say the same.
  For that, we are going to give them today the figleaf award. The 
figleaf award is given to those Republicans, the majority of them, who 
are essentially using Earth Day antics to try to cover up their 
environmental records.
  Mr. Speaker, it is not fair. When I came to Congress in 1988, I came 
here because many of my constituents were concerned about the 
environment and hoped that by coming down here I could do something to 
turn around the dismal situation at the Jersey Shore where we had 
medical waste and a lot of debris washing up on our beaches and our 
beaches were closed. I am very proud to say that Democratic Congresses, 
in cooperation with Republican and Democratic Presidents over the last 
8 years, have done a lot to clean up our water. But this Congress has 
tried to turn back the clock.
  The Republican majority and its leadership should not be allowed to 
hide what they are doing behind a figleaf.
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, the gentleman's 
figleaf, if they wore that figleaf in public they probably would be 
arrested for indecent exposure. The fact is, there is not any figleaf 
that is big enough to cover up the damage and the effort to undo 
environmental public policy that this Congress has done. In fact this 
Congress has not done the big things right. It is not doing the little 
things right.
  Earth Day is not just the 26th day. Earth Day was not just yesterday. 
It is every day, not just 1 week but 52 weeks a year.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentleman 
from Minnesota.

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