[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 130 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EPA NEW CLEAN AIR STANDARDS

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Madam Speaker, well, it is lawyers over lunch buckets 
once again for EPA and this administration. Secretary Browner and the 
EPA have proposed new clean air standards so complicated and so 
cumbersome that they will employ many more lawyers and lay off working 
men and women.
  Where is the scientific data that supports this need for these 
choking regulations? We have not seen the data. If it exists, it must 
be hidden under the mountain of draft proposed regulations.
  History tells us that new regulations also drive up the cost of 
transportation, the cost of the production of goods, and in the trade 
world of NAFTA and GATT, that will cost working men and women their 
jobs. This loss of jobs is simply a natural product of an economy that 
has more government bureaucrats than manufacturing workers. Too much 
regulation, not enough work.
  It is somewhat like EPA's Superfund, badly in need of reform, which 
spends over half of its budget on lawyers instead of cleaning up the 
mess. The new clean air standards will enrich the lawyers at the cost 
of working men and women.
  Yes, Madam Speaker, it is lawyers over lunch buckets for the EPA and 
this administration.

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