[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      EPA PUGET SOUND BUDGET CUTS

  (Ms. JAYAPAL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose potential deep cuts to 
the Environmental Protection Agency.
  According to many recent press reports, the EPA budget to restore our 
critical Puget Sound in my home State of Washington is facing a 93 
percent cut. What is worse is the EPA, overall, is potentially facing a 
25 percent budget cut, resulting in a loss of 15,000 jobs.
  Let us be clear that the EPA is the entity that ensures clean air, 
clean water, and strong human health. Because of the EPA's work on 
accountability and oversight of strong environmental regulations, we 
have seen progress on pollution mitigation, shoreline restoration, 
water treatment, and education projects that are aimed at protecting 
our sound and our environment.
  This administration's cuts will be devastating to our environment. By 
signing an executive order to move forward on Keystone and the DAPL 
pipeline, appointing Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, and rolling back 
environmental regulations, we are showing overt hostility to protecting 
our environment.
  We need to be investing in our environment and not slashing it, and 
we need to make sure that we restore our environment and preserve it 
for our future generations.

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