[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1523-S1527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Andrew Wheeler

  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I come to the floor in opposition to 
Andrew Wheeler's nomination to lead the Environmental Protection 
Agency.
  Americans across this country depend on EPA to protect their public 
health, yet under this administration, EPA has failed again and again 
to reassure my constituents that their basic rights to breathe in clean 
air and sip clean water are being prioritized.
  Listen, I am proud that EPA's Region 5 office is headquartered in 
Chicago. Region 5 has led the country in enforcing the Clean Air Act, 
the Clean Water Act, and other bedrock environmental policies that 
Congress has passed. But under Mr. Wheeler and this administration, EPA 
has made it harder for the scientists, engineers, and public health 
experts in Region 5 to do their jobs.
  EPA is severely understaffed and underfunded, and in 2018, major 
enforcement actions dropped to their lowest levels in more than 10 
years. Last year, EPA competed fewer than 11,000 inspections and 
evaluations of polluters across the country--the lowest number in 
almost two decades.
  In 2018, EPA sent just 123 civil pollution violation cases to the 
Justice Department for prosecution. That is about 40 percent less than 
the annual average during the Obama administration. So, sadly, it 
should come as no surprise that a report from the Environmental 
Integrity Project this month found that communities across the country 
are now being put at risk of exposure to dangerous contaminants.
  To make matters worse, the EPA's enforcement workforce has been 
shrinking for years, and the Trump administration wants to cut it back 
even further.
  These cutbacks are leaving communities, especially low-income 
communities and those of color, exposed to public health risks. 
Meanwhile, polluters are being let off the hook for serious violations 
of the law.
  I have seen firsthand what happens when EPA fails to enforce our laws 
and protect public health. It causes fear and confusion. For months, 
residents in Willowbrook, IL, have lived in fear that the air they 
breathe in has been making their family sick.
  Here is a little background. A facility in their community has been 
releasing cancer-causing emissions for decades. Unfortunately, even 
since EPA discovered just how toxic this chemical was years ago--years 
ago--they have refused to issue new regulations updating safety 
standards based on the latest science.
  Making matters even worse, EPA officials refused to notify local 
public health or elected officials about their discovery, leaving 
communities in the dark even while their health is at risk, leaving 
more families more likely to get sick, leaving more children more 
likely to die.
  As a mother, this is heartbreaking. As a Senator, this is outrageous.
  When Willowbrook residents first started to raise concerns, EPA 
wasn't the least bit transparent. The Agency had to be pushed by 
Senator Durbin, other Members of the Illinois congressional delegation, 
and me just to hold community forums.
  My office also received alarming information alleging that senior 
political appointees instructed EPA personnel not to inspect any 
facility in Region 5 that emits the same carcinogen found at this 
facility. If true, this type of political interference is beyond 
unacceptable. If true, it is happening on Mr. Wheeler's watch.
  I have asked EPA to take several steps to fix this crisis, and I am 
still waiting for their response.
  In the absence of leadership from EPA, Senator Durbin and I have 
authored two pieces of legislation to ensure that this kind of crisis 
never happens again.
  Here is what Gabriela, a resident of Willowbrook, said when she saw 
the list of health problems associated with this facility: ``It was 
like reading our medical history.''
  Since she moved to her home in 2009, Gabriela has suffered from 
intense headaches, dizziness, nausea, inability to concentrate, and 
memory loss. She has found it difficult to read through briefs and 
almost instantly forgets movie plots and even some conversations.
  Both of her children, who have lived in the house for most of their 
lives, have had respiratory problems since they were little. Her 12-
year-old daughter has often coughed to the point of vomiting and has 
developed a bone cyst.
  One of her 9-year-old daughter's classmates was recently diagnosed 
with leukemia, as was Gabriella's next-door neighbor, an otherwise 
healthy man in his early fifties.
  Another woman I have gotten to know from Willowbrook is named 
Neringa. She told me that when she and her husband were moving to 
Chicago 5 years ago, they picked their home because it seemed like a 
place where their children would be safe.
  She went on:

       You look for sexual predators, good schools, taxes. You 
     don't think you would have to look at air and water. You feel 
     like it is the one thing in our country we wouldn't have to 
     think about.

  Exposure from toxic pollution is a matter of life and death for these 
residents. It was uncovered only when career civil servants did their 
job and flagged a risk they observed in a routine model that EPA 
publishes.
  I am extremely concerned that other areas in Illinois could face 
similar issues and that other kids in other communities could be 
breathing in air full of cancer-causing chemicals when they are playing 
on the swings at recess or walking home from school later that 
afternoon.
  I need EPA to respond to the requests I have made on behalf of Lake 
County and actually conduct the kind of monitoring that exposed the 
problem in Willowbrook there and in every community that may be at 
risk.
  Not far from Willowbrook, residents in Chicago have also been facing 
several public health threats for decades.
  Chicago, IL, is the birthplace of Hazel Johnson, the ``Mother of the 
Environmental Justice Movement,'' a pioneer of environmental justice 
activism on the South Side of Chicago.
  She founded People for Community Recovery in 1979 in an effort to get 
asbestos out of the buildings in her community. Soon she managed to 
trace air and water pollution in her community to nearby industry, 
which was using the predominantly lower income African-American 
community as a dumping ground.
  Hazel Johnson knew what I know: Every American has a right to breathe 
in safe air, drink clean water, and live

[[Page S1524]]

on uncontaminated land, no matter where they live, no matter the color 
of their skin, no matter their tax bracket.
  Yet I still hear about manganese pollution, petcoke, particulate 
matter, and lead exposure from these residents on a daily basis.
  Chicago residents deserve--no, they need--environmental justice. But 
for some reason, this administration has dismantled the office that is 
supposed to lead this work, even trying to eliminate EPA's 
environmental justice funding and drive out the office's top talent.
  Lead exposure is an issue that impacts low-income families and 
communities of color disproportionately. I had high hopes that I would 
be able to work with Mr. Wheeler on the administration's response to 
this crisis. Yet after months and months of delays, I am very 
disappointed by their so-called plan.
  Mr. Wheeler's lead action plan falls short of what was promised and 
the ``war on lead'' his predecessor declared. This is not a plan with 
goals, strategies, and deadlines. Instead, it is a repackaged version 
of a report published under the Obama administration. Little has 
changed, other than the window dressing.
  What disappointed me most was that the administration appears to be 
walking back our goal of eliminating lead exposure, settling simply for 
reducing it. That is unacceptable.
  Even to this day, in a post-Flint crisis world, too many in power are 
sitting idly by as countless Americans are exposed to lead. More than 6 
million homes get water from lead service lines, and 24 million homes 
have lead hazards in paint, dust, or soil. Nearly half a million 
children have elevated levels of lead in their blood.
  Let's be clear. For children, there is no safe level of lead 
allowable in drinking water. Even low levels can cause permanent brain 
damage in kids, lowering IQ, and inflicting other cognitive damage. 
Imagine if your child were one of those who had gotten sick because the 
EPA refused to take action on such an obvious crisis. Imagine how 
infuriating, how devastating that would be.
  We must make meaningful progress in tackling sources of exposure, and 
EPA must take up an aggressive, comprehensive, and practical strategy.
  I know we can make real progress in reducing lead in our society, but 
the new lead action plan is a missed opportunity to advance those 
efforts.
  I also believe that Mr. Wheeler has far too many conflicts of 
interest to be running the EPA. As a former lobbyist for Murray Energy, 
Mr. Wheeler has worked closely with the industries he would regulate as 
the leader of the EPA. It is well reported that Mr. Wheeler's former 
firm lobbied the EPA on efforts Wheeler now oversees.
  Even after he took temporary reins of the EPA, he made no secret of 
meeting with former clients and fossil fuel industry representatives. 
CNN and Reuters have both reported that Wheeler is heavily prioritizing 
meetings with industry over anyone else and has attended more than 50 
meetings with companies or industry groups that EPA regulates.
  If this news doesn't alarm you, it may be because corruption is 
becoming routine under this administration. After all, just earlier 
this week, the Washington Post reported that the Assistant 
Administrator for Air and Radiation, Bill Wehrum, has been routinely 
meeting with former clients in the fossil fuel industry from his not-
so-long-ago lobbying days.
  I placed a hold on Mr. Wehrum's nomination because I did not think he 
could be trusted with our Nation's air. I feel the same way about Mr. 
Wheeler's leading the EPA.
  According to the Sierra Club, every third day during his first 100 
days as Acting Administrator, Mr. Wheeler either, one, rolled back a 
new climate policy; two, ignored or contradicted science; three, met 
with big polluters; four, limited the EPA's ability to protect us from 
pollution; or, five, gave in to corporate polluter demands--all of that 
in just his first 3 months and change. Imagine what would happen if we 
gave him the reins for good.
  Mr. Wheeler's position on climate change policy alone is 
disqualifying. Consider, for example, his attack on the Clean Power 
Plan. Climate change is a major threat to our environment, our economy, 
and our national security--something that even Donald Trump's own 
intelligence officials admit.
  My home State of Illinois is already experiencing the consequences of 
inaction. Growing seasons are changing, heat waves are increasing, and 
extreme floods are becoming more frequent and more severe. Just this 
December we had a hurricane. Mitigating these effects will require 
sensible policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in 
clean energy.
  Under the Clean Water Act, EPA is legally required to limit carbon 
pollution from powerplants, pollution that we know is the primary 
driver of climate change.
  That is why the Obama administration established a Clean Power Plan--
to provide States the flexibility they need to meet a national goal of 
32 percent reductions in carbon pollution by 2030. This plan was the 
culmination of robust and rigorous public participation, and EPA 
received millions of comments supporting the program from States, 
through its utilities, communities of color, Tribes, environmental 
groups, labor unions, and the public at large.
  The Clean Power Plan was not only good for the environment; it was 
good for the economy, too. In Illinois, residents are expected to save 
an average of up to 4 percent on electricity bills by 2030. Illinois 
energy efficiency investments alone are estimated to grow our economy 
by $2 billion in that same year, and we lead the Midwest in clean 
energy jobs.
  But no matter the obvious global, national, and economic benefits, 
Mr. Wheeler has led the administration's efforts to roll back the Clean 
Power Plan. His replacement proposal would adversely impact public 
health and lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths from increased 
soot, up to 15,000 new cases of upper respiratory problems, and 100,000 
missed school and work days annually by 2030.
  Internationally, this proposal would leave the United States further 
behind our allies that have taken aggressive action on climate change. 
The proposal also fails low-income communities and communities of 
color, which bear the brunt of our environmental and public health 
burdens. Unlike the Clean Power Plan, this platform doesn't even 
require States to engage environmental justice and community groups in 
their plan development processes. It also fails to encourage States to 
conduct environmental justice analysis of their own as they develop 
implementation plans.
  EPA should be working to strengthen policies like the Clean Power 
Plan. It is more than troubling that Mr. Wheeler and the Trump 
administration are instead seeking to repeal them entirely. Now is not 
the time to move backward.
  Here is what Evan, who grew up in Libertyville, IL, shared with me:

       I write because I am concerned about the future. The future 
     of the world, the future for the United States and my own 
     future. At this time, I feel that perhaps the greatest threat 
     to that future is climate change. The current 
     Administration's stance towards the issue has discouraged me 
     to no end, and I can't help but despair as the President 
     makes light of this existential threat to the wellbeing of 
     the planet.
       I know, of course, that not all lawmakers share the 
     President's stance towards this issue. Please, make some 
     noise.

  Evan, I hear you. I hear your fear, and I want you to know that I 
believe the Nation should be focused on building a clean energy economy 
and a climate-safe future for your generation. I hear you, and I am 
going to make that noise for you.
  I am also angry at EPA's abuse of the small refinery waiver program 
under the renewable fuel standard. The RFS includes a policy to help 
small refineries that cannot afford to comply with the RFS. Before 
Donald Trump took power, this policy was rarely used. Under the Trump 
administration, however, nearly every exemption application has been 
secretly granted. This includes applications from large, multibillion 
dollar companies like Exxon and Chevron that are earning record 
profits. These companies' CEOs have even pointed to hardship waivers on 
earnings clauses as contributing to their profitability.
  The administration's stance reduces incentives for blending--slashing 
demands for biofuels and feedstocks--actively hurting farmers and 
biofuels

[[Page S1525]]

companies. These waivers could hurt the markets for years to come, 
holding back homegrown biofuels while creating windfall profits for 
large oil refiners--the exact opposite of this administration's promise 
to voters.
  Let's be blunt. EPA is taking money out of farmers' hands and giving 
it to billionaire oil companies. These actions come at a time when 
biofuel producers and farmers across our country are already hurting. 
Farm income is at its lowest since 2006, and retaliatory trade measures 
from China threaten to deepen the crisis.
  Yet early reports indicate that the small refinery waivers EPA has 
granted under President Trump and Mr. Wheeler will reduce demand for 
biofuels by billions. Over the past 6 months, we have seen more ethanol 
plants sold, idled, or closed than ever before. When I asked Mr. 
Wheeler during the confirmation hearing about EPA's apparent change in 
policy to now seemingly granting every exemption application, he made 
excuses justifying them. We need a leader at the EPA who is going to 
stand up for our farmers, not capitulate to the demands of Big Oil.
  We also need a leader at the EPA who is going to protect the Great 
Lakes. The 1,000 employees in Region 5 work tirelessly to protect the 
environment, health, and safety of Americans living in Illinois, 
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. They live, work, and 
raise their families in the communities they protect, and they are 
leaders in the fields of water quality, Superfund cleanup, and Great 
Lakes restoration.
  Region 5 is also home to the Great Lakes Program Office, which 
ensures that we keep the promises we made to Canada under the Great 
Lakes Water Quality Agreement. It also leads the Nation's Great Lakes 
Restoration Initiative, which has funded more than 2,000 projects that 
improve water quality, protect wildlife, and clean up toxic pollutants 
that threaten our water supply.
  To date, the program has invested more than $2.2 billion in Great 
Lakes restoration projects. Coordinated in both the United States and 
Canada, GLRI sets the standards for interagency and international 
cooperation. Every $1 invested in Great Lakes restoration results in a 
$2 return in the form of increased fishing, tourism, and home values. 
But in addition to enduring a shutdown, the employees in Region 5 who 
lead these programs have been bought out, undermined, and reorganized 
into positions they are not suited for, and that is unacceptable.
  What is also unacceptable is Mr. Wheeler's attacks on science and 
science integrity. Science does not have a political affiliation. 
Science is about learning, and it never stands still. It gives us the 
building blocks to help us increase our knowledge over time and to find 
ever-better solutions to the challenges we face. Unfortunately, this 
EPA has led the administration's attacks on science when it doesn't fit 
with their pro-polluter agenda.
  What is at stake is not just our health and future but also America's 
standing and influence in the world. Just this month, EPA released the 
names of eight new members of its science advisory board. I am 
concerned that several of the new members represent interests who seek 
to undermine the independence and quality of the scientific advice 
given to the EPA. University researchers are now in the minority on the 
board, while the number of industry-affiliated members and members 
listed as consultants has increased.

  Here is how the Union of Concerned Scientists summarized the new 
appointments made by Wheeler to the Science Advisory Board. Take Dr. 
John Christy. He has a reputation for controversial climate research 
and denying the evidence of global warming.
  Then, there is Dr. Brant Ulsh, a consultant who argues that radiation 
at low doses isn't a big deal, contrary to the conclusions of the 
National Academy of Science.
  New member Dr. Richard Williams has received compensation from the 
American Chemistry Council's formaldehyde panel, which was set up to 
obfuscate the health impacts of this carcinogen. He is also on the 
board of trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute, an 
industry-funded organization that is notorious for pushing out shoddy 
nutrition science.
  Dr. Barbara Beck is a consultant with Gradient, which has itself 
earned a reputation for helping industry defend their products with 
favorable scientific studies. Beck herself helped to write a paper 
arguing that exposure to lead at low doses is not necessarily harmful 
to children, which is in stark contrast to the CDC's assessment that 
there is no safe level of exposure to lead.
  The common thread among these individuals is that they are 
practitioners of the widely used disinformation playbook. They 
frequently work to inject uncertainty into science by criticizing risk 
assessments and underlying models. They argue that exposure to 
pollutants at low doses is not worth worrying about. That is not true. 
Pollution is pollution, and it is bad for communities, and it is bad 
for public health.
  I also want to spend some time discussing the administration's new 
clean water rule. For more than 45 years, the Clean Water Act has 
preserved, protected, and restored our Nation's most important natural 
resource and radically transformed how our Nation uses water. That is 
why admirers of CWA appropriately labeled this law as one of the most 
successful public health initiatives ever enacted. Continued success of 
the CWA requires developing a clear, concise rule for determining which 
bodies of water are protected by the Clean Water Act. However, Mr. 
Wheeler and the Trump administration have proposed a rule that fails to 
provide the clear-cut certainty requested by my constituents. It would 
cancel protections for drinking water sources of tens of millions of 
people. It would also cancel protections for streams and wetlands that 
provide habitat for wildlife and protect communities from flooding.
  Communities across the country, particularly low-income communities 
and communities of color, already struggle to access clean water. Mr. 
Wheeler's proposed rule will make it even harder for these communities. 
Mr. Wheeler's water rule puts the profits of corporate polluters before 
our health and clean water for our families.
  Alan, from Wheeling, IL, wrote to me and said:

       This is insanity. There is nothing more important than 
     protecting the sources of water that many people in this 
     country drink from.
       No source of drinking water should be open for pollution or 
     destruction, but that is exactly what this proposal does by 
     stripping protections from critical streams and wetlands 
     across the country.
       Senator Duckworth, please do anything that is possible to 
     protect our environment and industries that depend upon clean 
     water.

  Alan, thank you for writing to me. I agree with you. This rule makes 
no scientific, legal, public health, or fiscal sense.
  Another constituent, Dave from Rockford, shared with me similar 
concerns. He wrote:

       Clean water is not a political issue. Protecting our 
     watersheds and ensuring that clean, fresh water is available 
     for fish, farms and communities is not an option--it's a 
     responsibility.
       I cannot think of a more enjoyable satisfaction [than] just 
     standing in a clean river, seeing all the life teaming in it, 
     and knowing that our hard work is paying off.

  Dave is right. Streams and wetlands work as natural filters and 
sponges, keeping our drinking water supplies safe, while reducing the 
impact of floods.
  Like our water, I am concerned by this administration's attacks on 
clean air. One group that comes to mind that has been fighting for our 
clean air is Mom's Clean Air Task Force. They are a group of moms who 
know how painful it is when their child can't play outside because they 
have asthma or there is smog outside. They are fighting for cleaner air 
and stronger kids.
  They list ten reasons they oppose Mr. Wheeler, and among those 
reasons are his attacks on rules to control mercury pollution, to make 
our cars more fuel efficient, and to reduce smog.
  Mr. Wheeler's attacks on these priorities hits close to home for me. 
Currently, the rate of asthma in Illinois is 13 percent higher than the 
national average. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranks 
Chicago in the top 10 percent of the most challenging places to live 
with asthma. Asthma is hitting the frontline neighborhoods in Chicago 
harder than in many other

[[Page S1526]]

places in the Nation, with asthma rates in some neighborhoods soaring 
as high as 33 percent. As the climate gets hotter, air pollution, 
allergies, and temperatures will trigger more asthma attacks in 
children.
  I want to end on a high note. I commend Mr. Wheeler for following 
through on his promise to make himself accessible and to conduct 
proactive outreach. Compared to Mr. Pruitt, he is an upgrade in terms 
of professionalism, but that is an incredibly low bar.
  At the end of the day, my constituents are depending on me to protect 
them from pollution, even if it upsets some in industry. I believe we 
need an Administrator who is ready to fight for our kids, to fight for 
the Great Lakes, to fight for the civil servants that work at EPA, and 
to fight for every American's right to clean air, clean water, and a 
healthy environment. I believe EPA will achieve its mission when it 
requires rigorous enforcement when human health is at stake.
  Mr. Wheeler believes that public health must be balanced against the 
health of corporations and industry interests who always want less 
rules, less oversight, and certainly less enforcement. That is why I 
must vote no.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Oregon is recognized.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, this week the Senate is debating the 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler to serve as Administrator of the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency.
  I am going to make this short because this is bad news for anybody 
who wants the Environmental Protection Agency to live up to its 
fundamental mission; that is, to protect the public health so our 
citizens, from sea to shining sea, can breathe clean air and drink 
clean water.
  In my view, Andrew Wheeler is Scott Pruitt without an appetite for 
luxury travel on the taxpayers' dime--yet another Trump appointee doing 
the bidding of the dirtiest, most powerful industry in America, no 
matter what physical harm it might do to the people of our country.
  To me, the fundamental obligation of an EPA Administrator should be 
to make sure we don't compromise our health and the environment. 
Regrettably, Mr. Wheeler has spent his career doing essentially the 
opposite.
  Given what he has done during his time as acting head of the Agency, 
he has already proven what sort of backward-thinking Administrator he 
will be. In fact, I think it would be fair to say Andrew Wheeler is 
sure to be ``Administrator Rollback.''
  During his time as Acting-Administrator, he's rolled back fuel 
economy standards that reduce pollution and help drivers save money at 
the pump. Not even the car companies support him on that. He is rolling 
back the rules designed to stop dirty powerplants from belching toxic 
gases into the air. He is rolling back rules designed to protect 
workers from exposure on the job to dangerous chemicals that can cause 
heart attacks, for example. He is rolling back EPA enforcement--basic 
enforcement--of a host of safeguards that are already on the books.
  Civil penalties against polluters are now at their lowest since 1994. 
Inspections of potentially toxic industrial sites amount to half of 
what they were just in 2010. Civil fines have plummeted on his watch. 
Judicial enforcement cases that have begun and are concluded have been 
cut in half. The Wheeler EPA is already letting environmental criminals 
off the hook. It is my view that these criminals are not creating 
victimless crimes--what they are doing is poisoning our communities, 
our workplaces, our air, and our water.
  Perhaps what is most alarming about his appointment is that he 
essentially waves a hand of dismissal to the existential threat of 
climate change.
  I have a lot of open-to-everybody townhall meetings in my State. We 
have now had more than 920. Just last week, I held five in different 
parts of our State. In counties where Donald Trump won and in counties 
where Hillary Clinton won, the issue of climate change comes up 
everywhere.
  At the root of the questions I get in communities that span the 
philosophical spectrum is that people are terrified--terrified--of what 
climate change is going to bring. They see the news coming out of 
Washington. They see that the Trump administration isn't just waving 
the white flag of surrender on climate change. In effect, it almost 
feels as if the Trump people want to bring on those climate changes 
even faster. Anybody who is walking around in our communities and sees 
temperature shifts of more than 30 or 40 degrees on a dime is 
completely aware of what I am talking about, even if the Trump 
administration is not.
  In my home State, when you talk about climate change, the first thing 
Oregonians think about are wildfires. These fires are not your 
grandfather's fires. They are bigger. They are hotter. They are more 
powerful.
  Not too long ago, we actually had a fire leap the Columbia River--our 
magnificent Columbia River. This is noteworthy for a variety reasons 
but especially because our rivers historically have acted as fire 
bricks. Now we have these bigger and more powerful fires almost all 
year round, not just a few months in the summer, the way it used to be. 
These new megafires are extraordinary.
  It is almost as if we are trying to get acclimated to the idea of 
clean air refugees--people who live near areas where fires break out, 
with ash built up on their cars like snow in the wintertime.
  California has seen its own huge infernos causing horrible fatalities 
in the last few years. Nevada has seen it, Colorado and Washington as 
well. People are literally homeless, out and about in their 
communities, trying to just find a safe place for shelter.
  Climate change is also not just about fires. Across the West, there 
is the threat of crippling drought. The hurricanes that battled the 
East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico are intensifying and drowning our 
cities with rain. It seems like every day there is another report about 
how sea levels are rising faster than previously estimated.
  Climate change is affecting wildlife in catastrophic ways. Entire 
ecosystems could be lost. This week, there were reports that an ice 
sheet larger than the island of Manhattan broke off from Antarctica. So 
the effects of climate change aren't some threat way off in the future. 
It is already a massive problem today. Americans feel it, and they see 
it in their communities again and again.
  My wife and I are older parents. We have 11-year-old twins and a 6-
year-old daughter. I--and I am sure there are plenty of other 
Senators--think about what their generation is going to be dealing with 
down the road. This is why there is so much grassroots energy out there 
about the Green New Deal, which I am proud to cosponsor.
  I can tell you from the conversations I had in Oregon, people know 
what a grave threat climate change poses. They want action. My hope is 
that there are a variety of ways, like we saw with the original New 
Deal, in which we can find some common ground.
  I am the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which 
writes the tax laws. We have more than 40 separate tax breaks for 
energy that are on the books today, and most of them are dirty energy 
tax relics of yesteryear.
  What I have proposed is that we basically throw those 40 energy tax 
breaks--relics of dirty energy--in the trash can and substitute three; 
one for clean energy, one for clean transportation fuel, and one for 
energy efficiency.
  The Presiding Officer is new here. She is getting out and talking to 
Senators about a variety issues. I can tell her that what I will be 
saying to colleagues on the other side of the aisle is something like, 
my idea responds to what Republicans have been talking about, the need 
for fewer subsidies. We ought to have fewer subsidies for energy.
  Why don't we try to work together, find common ground, and do it 
particularly on an issue that helps us to promote clean energy at a 
time of dramatic climate change?

[[Page S1527]]

  That is why I believe Andrew Wheeler is the wrong person to lead the 
EPA. Just when we need Democrats and Republicans to come together to 
find fresh ideas to combat climate change, he basically says that it 
really isn't a threat at all.
  It really isn't a threat to Mr. Wheeler, and he is making the climate 
change challenge worse by basically suppressing the authority and the 
ability of the Agency to take this existential challenge head-on.
  The mission of the EPA is all about protecting human health, fighting 
for clean air, fighting for clean water, and fighting on behalf of 
Americans from sea to shining sea.
  Andrew Wheeler fights for those who endanger our health and pollute 
our air and water. This isn't a tough call. I am a no on a nomination 
that represents danger and going backward. I urge my colleagues to stay 
with me.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

                          ____________________