[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 187 (Wednesday, December 7, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H8203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                      OPPOSITION TO THE REINS ACT

  (Mrs. CAPPS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, later today the House will vote on the 
REINS Act. This is a terrible piece of legislation that will make it 
next to impossible to protect Americans' health or the environment. It 
would allow either Chamber of Congress to stop efforts to keep our 
water and air clean or to protect the public from unsafe food--by 
simply doing nothing.
  This bill sets up a congressional approval requirement that is a 
recipe for more gridlock. It would mean more bureaucracy and more 
delay, generating uncertainty for businesses and weaker rules to 
protect consumers.
  Sherwood Boehlert, the former Republican chairman of the House 
Science Committee and one of our most thoughtful former colleagues, 
recently wrote a scathing piece in The Hill about the REINS Act. He 
said the bill would result in ``a virtual shutdown of the system that 
will leave the public exposed.''
  Madam Speaker, the REINS Act is an outrageous effort to throw out a 
system that has protected American families and communities for more 
than 100 years. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting down this 
irresponsible and misguided legislation.

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