[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H201-H202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S EPA BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise because I believe that working 
Americans deserve a Federal budget which is compassionate, decent, 
hopeful, and accountable to their needs. Yet the budget shortchanges 
many environmental programs designed to protect public health and 
improve our communities' quality of life. It cuts funding for 
environmental justice programs by 28 percent and cuts funding for clean 
water infrastructure by $199 million. It also fails to address the more 
than $300 billion gap in drinking water infrastructure, funds for 
brownfields cleanup and redevelopment at less than 20 percent of what 
Congress has authorized, and zeroes out funding to bring more green 
space to our communities.
  These cuts, Mr. Speaker, have very real implications on the quality 
of our health and our communities. Let us first consider the 28 percent 
cut in funding for environmental justice. For decades minority and low-
income communities have lived in close proximity to industrial zones, 
power plants, toxic waste sites. These are the communities

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nationwide whose health and quality of life are negatively impacted 
most by environmental injustices. For example, 5.5 million Latinos live 
within a 10-mile radius of a power plant, and 68 percent of all African 
Americans live within 30 miles, the range where health impacts are most 
severe. Over 70 percent of all African Americans and Latinos live in 
counties that violate the Federal air pollution standards, compared to 
58 percent for nonminorities.
  The administration is allegedly committed to protecting low-income 
and minority communities; yet the budget is just one of several actions 
taken recently which puts this commitment in doubt. Last year the Bush 
administration proposed removing race and income as considerations of 
environmental justice. Removing these considerations, in my opinion, 
would significantly disadvantage those communities which are already 
disproportionately affected by environmental toxins and the least able 
to defend and empower themselves.
  Most recently the Bush administration proposed changing toxic 
reporting requirements to benefit polluting industries at the expense 
of the health of this Nation's communities. In California, the State I 
represent, this would include nearly 60 ZIP codes, over half of which 
have at least 45 percent minority residents and large proportions of 
people living well below the poverty line.
  This budget also shortchanges our water infrastructure and water 
providers. It cuts funding for the Clean Water Revolving Fund by $199 
million and funds safe drinking water infrastructure at 10 percent 
below last year's level. Yet our water infrastructure needs at least 
$300 billion invested just to maintain current services.
  President Bush's budget fails to adequately address the more than 
119,000 confirmed releases at underground storage tanks, like the more 
than 1,000 in my congressional district alone, and that is in Los 
Angeles. In the interim the onerous burden of shoring up our water 
infrastructure and protecting supplies falls on our cities, our States, 
and ultimately the water providers.
  The budget fails the one in four Americans that live within 4 miles 
of a Superfund site, including 10 million children under the age of 12. 
There are three such sites in my own community. In fact, EPA itself 
admitted publicly the serious problems facing Superfund site cleanup. 
On December 2, 2004, then Assistant Administrator Thomas Dunne noted: 
``For the last 3 years, we haven't started cleanup at some new sites. 
If we assume that EPA's budget will remain flat for the foreseeable 
future, construction funding could be delayed at more and more sites. 
Within a few years, unfunded cleanup work could total several hundred 
million dollars.''
  Yet President Bush's budget is $100 million less than the request 
which was made in 2004 and $20 million less than the fiscal year 2005 
request.
  Ultimately, the budget forces our country to continue to fall behind 
in its commitment to clean water, further disadvantages environmental 
justice communities like the one I live in, and passes the buck to our 
States. The Bush administration is putting its own policies above 
science, above the needs of public health, the environment, and our 
communities, and yet this administration is not being held accountable. 
Not once in the last 6 years has the Bush administration defended its 
budget in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Not once. It is 
well past time for this administration to defend its policies on 
environmental justice, water infrastructure, brownfields, and Superfund 
sites, where failures such as these will be even more costly for our 
country.

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