[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16234]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        IGNORING THE ENVIRONMENT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, while the Senate is using scarce floor time 
to debate probably the most anti-environmental judicial nominee this 
body has seen, it has blocked any attempts to strengthen environmental 
and public health protections. Sitting on deck are critical bills to 
help cut harmful air pollutants, combat climate change, clean up toxic 
waste sites and protect our natural resources and improve our nuclear 
security.
  In fact, the Republican leadership only begrudgingly conceded six 
hours of floor time for Senators McCain and Lieberman's Climate 
Stewardship Act after blocking its consideration during the energy 
debate. Although the scientific and economic evidence of the toll 
climate change is and will take on this country, the Senate leadership 
continues to bury its head in the sand.
  That is 6 hours total this Congress for the environment.
  No time to consider Senator Jeffords's Clean Power Act that would 
finally require power plants to reduce emissions of toxic air 
pollutants like mercury. No time to consider the Chemical Security Act 
that would help ensure chemical plants are prepared for terrorist 
attacks. No time for the Toxic Cleanup Polluter Pays Renewal Act to 
reinstate fees paid by oil and chemical companies to cleanup waste 
sites across the country. No time for the Nuclear Infrastructure 
Security Act to improve security at over 100 nuclear facilities around 
the country.
  Despite bipartisan support, Republican leadership has also blocked 
consideration of several bills to improve coastal protections. Of 
course, they also have failed to bring up any of the appropriations 
bills to fund our national parks, wildlife refuges and national forests 
or environmental cleanup programs.
  Hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer every year from illnesses 
linked to emissions from power plants. One-fourth of Americans live 
within four miles of a Superfund waste site. Shouldn't the Senate be 
spending time finding solutions to these issues instead of debating a 
judicial nominee who wants to dismantle many of environmental 
protections?
  Senate Republicans dare to come to the Senate floor to complain that 
Democrats are obstructionists when we have already confirmed nearly 200 
of President Bush's judicial nominees. The Republican leadership has 
scheduled hundreds of hours for debate on judicial nominations but has 
allowed only six hours for debate on the critical issues affecting the 
health of our environment.
  Packing the bench is obviously a top priority for this 
administration. Protecting our natural resources, along with our 
health, is not. By picking the most extreme judicial nominees, on the 
environment and other issues, the Bush administration demonstrates that 
one of its real long-term goals is to roll back these important 
protections.

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