[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 99 (Wednesday, June 7, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 2023

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. GARRET GRAVES

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 31, 2023

  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, it is the intent of Congress 
that nothing in section 321 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 
(FRA) should be construed to alter, abridge, or abrogate the existing 
principles of law articulated by the Supreme Court of the United States 
in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, 541 U.S. 752 (2004). 
Namely, that any National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis must 
serve the informational purposes of that Act, which remain unchanged by 
section 321 of the FRA. Nor does section 321 of the FRA impact the 
Court's broader holding in Public Citizen that ``where an agency has no 
ability to prevent a certain effect due to its limited statutory 
authority over the relevant actions, the agency cannot be considered a 
legally relevant `cause' of the effect.'' Public Citizen, 541 U.S. at 
770. It is therefore Congress's intent that an agency need not consider 
these effects in its environmental review under NEPA. Additionally, and 
consistent with the text of section 321 of the FRA that limits review 
under NEPA to ``reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of the 
proposed agency action,'' unavoidable and ``reasonably foreseeable 
adverse environmental effects,'' and a ``reasonable range of 
alternatives,'' nothing in section 321 changes, alters, or abrogates 
the informational purpose of NEPA, as informed by the rule of reason 
articulated by the Court in Public Citizen.

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