[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 150 (Wednesday, September 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Environmental Protection Agency

  Mr. President, it has been reported that the Trump administration is 
planning to finalize a rule that would block any State from getting 
ahead of the Federal Government to deal with carbon pollution from 
cars. That includes revoking a waiver granted to California that allows 
the State to place more stringent limits on carbon pollution than the 
Federal Government. In the Trump era, we are frequently confronted with 
the absurd, but this is beyond ridiculous.
  The President is the leader of the self-proclaimed party of States' 
rights. Yet he is blocking States from setting their own standards. 
This President has repeatedly said that ``we have the cleanest air, the 
cleanest water,'' almost like a mantra. Yet he is trying to prevent 
California and other States from cleaning up their air pollution. The 
President's position is, very simply put, this: No, California, I 
insist you pollute more. That is in effect what the President is 
saying.
  Congress has spoken on this matter. The Clean Air Act says, in no 
uncertain terms, that California can go further than the EPA to reduce 
pollution from cars. So this is a terrible idea by the EPA, a terrible 
idea by the Trump administration, full of hypocrisy and contradiction, 
clearly illegal, and I am confident that it will be struck down.