[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 15, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E48-E49]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DISSENTING VIEWS TO THE ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 
   COMMERCE OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE ONE HUNDRED 
                           FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 15, 2019

  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, today I include in the Record Dissenting 
Views to the Activity Report of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 
the U.S. House of Representatives for the One Hundred Fifteenth 
Congress (Activity Report). The Activity Report, which was filed by the 
Republican majority on January 2, 2019, should have included these 
dissenting views, however, they were not included. I am taking this 
action to ensure that the House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats 
can exercise their right under House Rule XI to submit these dissenting 
views so that they are made part of the official House record.
  House Rule XI gives the majority party authority and the 
responsibility for setting our committee's agenda and to determine 
which jurisdictional areas and matters (and the extent to which) it 
will oversee or investigate.
  The Energy and Commerce Committee marked up and reported out 
important bipartisanship legislation in the 115th Congress, like H.R. 
6, H.R. 304, H.R. 931, H.R. 1320, H.R. 2430, H.R. 2345, H.R. 3387, H.R. 
5333, and H.R. 6378. Each of these bills was considered pursuant to 
regular order at every major legislative stage and should be seen as 
being displays of some of our greater legislative accomplishments.
  We would have been more successful as a committee this Congress had 
our Republican majority believed in and followed regular order more 
consistently. Regular order was nowhere to be found at the beginning of 
the 115th Congress. Republican House leaders and committee chairs 
exiled regular order at the start of the 115th Congress to deliver on 
their party's promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act as 
soon as possible after assuming unified government following the 2016 
Presidential and federal elections.
  Less than two months from the Committee's organization at the 
beginning of 2017, our Committee's Republican majority hurriedly 
noticed for full Committee markup a draft print, titled the American 
Health Care Act (AHCA). The AHCA was subsequently introduced and 
numbered as H.R. 1628. As we noted in our Minority Views to that bill's 
legislative report that accompanied it to the House floor:

       Despite the wide-ranging, serious implications of this 
     legislation for the health and financial security of all 
     Americans, the Committee did not hold a single hearing on the 
     details and effect of the legislation. Notably, stakeholders 
     have not had the ability to weigh in on the impacts of the 
     bill to the health care system. In fact, the Committee 
     received letters from hospitals, doctors, and patient and 
     advocacy groups all outlining their significant concerns with 
     the legislation. Additionally, despite Speaker Ryan's claims 
     that the bill would be considered through regular order and 
     through a transparent process, the repeal bill was drafted in 
     secret and introduced less than two days before markup.
       The minority is deeply concerned by the decision to proceed 
     to markup without first receiving the views of the CBO on the 
     impact of this legislation on health insurance coverage, 
     costs, and the federal budget.

  This exercise, which signaled that Committee Republicans might apply 
regular order sporadically and unpredictably, set the tone for the 
115th Congress.
  Bills that the Republican majority chose not to put through regular 
order were appreciably more partisan and controversial. These included 
H.R. 1628 and other troublesome bills to change the Clean Power Plan 
standards or to amend the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations and standards. Other 
Republican practices reflected in legislation acted on by the 
Committee, which Democrats saw and opposed, included attacks on funding 
and programs that promote and protect Democratic priorities, such as 
the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
  Committee Democrats also took issue at times with bills that relied 
on weak justifications and policies to support Congressional action, 
change, or clarification to existing statutes and federal programs that 
would weaken environmental and consumer health, public safety, and 
privacy protections. These legislative measures implemented policies 
and amended regulations to create loopholes and other compliance safe 
harbors. Our Republican majority acted on legislation that rolled back 
environmental and other consumer health and safety protections by 
moving further into the future well-noticed compliance deadlines for 
EPA new source performance standards applying to new residential wood 
and hydronic heaters and forced-air furnaces as well as national 
emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for brick and 
structural clay products and clay ceramics manufacturing and power 
plants using coal refuse facilities under the Clean Air Act. While some 
of these bills and amendments were intended to provide more legal and 
business certainty to industry; a good deal of them extended more 
regulatory relief than needed to properly balance the respective 
interests of all actors and stakeholders.
  The Committee appropriately exercised its jurisdictional discretion 
and prerogative at times to convene very important oversight hearings. 
For example, the Republican majority conducted formal oversight to 
raise critically important questions about Facebook's data protection 
and security practices and policies, and why those practices were 
insufficient to prohibit and prevent Cambridge Analytica from 
collecting and using Facebook user and other platform data to influence 
2016 Presidential election voters. The Republican majority, however, 
suppressed its oversight duties and responsibilities to call more 
fervently upon the Trump Administration and the Department of Health 
and Human Services (HHS) to appear before the Committee and explain its 
role in relation to the Administration's ``zero tolerance'' policy. As 
a result, the Ranking Member of the Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. 
introduced H. Res. 982, a resolution of inquiry (RoI), requesting 
President Trump and directing the Secretary of HHS to transmit certain 
information and records to the House of Representative relating to the 
separation of children from their parents or guardians in connection 
with the President's ``zero tolerance'' policy.
  In his dissenting views to the report covering the Committee's RoI 
proceeding, Ranking Member Pallone asserted that the Committee should 
have acted more quickly and decisively to understand and to offer its 
views regarding the family border separation crisis:

       My resolution of inquiry is ripe for action . . . For 
     better, far more than worse, family unification is vital to 
     all of [us] as individuals and to our physical and mental 
     health and overall well-being. Regardless of one's 
     citizenship status or the country from which they are 
     migrating to the United States, happy and stable families are 
     undeniably essential to becoming and staying healthy. For 
     that reason alone, separating children from

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     their families, regardless of whose policy it is or the 
     objectives behind that policy, is suspect on its face and 
     must be balanced by (our thorough) input, as a separate and 
     co-equal branch of the federal government. Our Committee 
     should not allow or tolerate further delay but this 
     Administration in providing answers to our questions or 
     soliciting our advice and reactions regarding this unabated 
     crisis. In order to perform our sworn duties as elected 
     representatives and leaders, we must convene an oversight 
     hearing as soon as possible. For these reasons, H. Res. 982 
     should have been favorably reported.

  While our Committee continued its important bipartisan traditions 
this Congress, in the 115th Congress the Republican majority failed to 
conduct any legitimate oversight of the Trump Administration, failing 
to hold them accountable for the cost of their policies to undermine 
critical health care, environmental and consumer protections. 
Republicans also failed to prioritize the lives of everyday Americans. 
Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats pursue policies that help 
everyday people by building a stronger economy, creating more good 
paying jobs, and protecting consumers from skyrocketing costs that make 
it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.