National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017--Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, today I rise to discuss the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. This is landmark legislation that will honor the legacy of our dear colleague Frank Lautenberg. I had the privilege to serve with Frank for a number of years and know how passionately he wanted to undertake this challenge of the toxic substances that are in our everyday products, our household products, that are causing cancer and causing other diseases because we have completely failed to regulate them. I so much appreciate that Frank Lautenberg took on this cause, pushed it forward, and presented it in a bipartisan fashion--a fashion that continued following his death.
In this Congress, this bill is the equivalent of a unicorn, as the phrase goes, a bipartisan, bicameral compromise that majorly reforms a badly broken law. It has brought Democrats and Republicans together to take action to protect public health. I felt honored and privileged to be a part of this coalition that has worked toward a final bill for over a year. This process has not been easy, but things that are worth doing rarely are easy.
I think it is important to recognize some of the champions in this process. Of course I recognize Frank Lautenberg and all he did to put this in motion.
Following his death, Senators Tom Udall and David Vitter deserve a tremendous amount of credit for having the bold vision to come together and to carry the torch of bipartisan compromise after his passing. Their persistence and their dedication in this effort through thick and thin have been remarkable.
Chairman Inhofe also deserves a great deal of credit for his work to shepherd this bill through the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Hopefully, we will get it through the floor of the Senate. Certainly the result of the bicameral negotiations that have been completed--the bill has now gone through the House and is coming back over here.
I commend Ranking Member Barbara Boxer for her leadership and her determination to make this the strongest bill it could possibly be. Her determination to make sure of the ability of States to act was not compromised, knowing that her State, California, has been a major leader--one of the few States that really have gone after toxic chemicals and set an example for the country. Her tenacity unquestionably has led to a stronger bill.
Senator Markey, as the subcommittee ranking member, brought enormous depth of knowledge and leadership to this process and was instrumental in the negotiations.
Finally, I especially want to thank Senators Whitehouse and Booker, who teamed up with me to push for important changes before the markup in committee and who have been tremendous partners through the process.
There are many others, of course, in the Senate and in the House, on the Republican side and the Democratic side, who have played a role in getting this bill to where it is now--a few small steps from being signed into law.
I would like to specifically thank the Environmental Defense Fund. On any project like this, you need forces inside the building, but you also need forces outside the building marshaling expertise, creating a conversation among grassroots proponents, and bringing their expertise and their insights to bear. Their lead senior scientist, Richard Denison, played an instrumental role in the preparation of this bill.
Many Americans don't know that the chemicals in their household products are completely unregulated. It has been 40 years since the last major reform to our Federal chemical laws took place. There has been absolutely no action of any kind since 1991, when there was a failed effort to regulate asbestos, which, again, citizens believe must surely be regulated given its incredible impact on the public health of our Nation.
But for 40 years the law has been badly broken, and for 40 years generations of Americans have been exposed to unsafe chemicals and the Federal Government has been powerless to act. That is four decades too long.
The most powerful Nation on the Earth should not be powerless to regulate toxic chemicals in our everyday products. Now we are on the cusp of passing a historic bill that will change all of that.
How bad is this problem? Last year I partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund and with researchers at Oregon State University to find out just that. The Oregon State University researchers developed a small silicone wristband that picks up toxic chemicals that each of us is exposed to every day, in the air and water around us, in our furniture, and in our household products. Twenty-five participants wore one of these silicone wristbands for a week, and then the wristbands were taken to a laboratory to analyze what the individual had been exposed to. The results were sobering. Each participant had been exposed to at least 10 potentially dangerous chemicals.
Beth Slovic, a reporter for Willamette Week who wore one of the wristbands, described scouring labels in her household after her results came back, trying to find out which products were the culprits so she could get rid of them, but largely she couldn't find the source.
She wrote:
Even if I had [found the source], I wouldn't have been safe from worry. You can try to avoid certain synthetic chemicals in your own home, but try avoiding them at work or on the bus. Products with industrial chemicals, such as those sprinkled in carpets and cushions supposedly to keep them from bursting into flames, break down and are in our dust.
As the information packet for the [wristband] experiment explained, ``You can't shop your way out of the problem.''
Beth mentioned the issue of industrial chemicals that are put into our carpets, supposedly to keep them from bursting into flames. There is quite a story behind these flame retardants in our carpets, in our upholstery, in our foam cushions, and it is not a story that will make any of us feel good. It will make all of us feel we need to have this bill passed, however.
Here is the challenge: These flame retardants are cancer-causing. The chemical industry got a bill passed requiring them to be put into household products such as foam, upholstery, and carpets.
Imagine that you are a new mother or a new father and your little baby is down there on the carpet, their nose 1 inch from the floor, and then you read about the fact that carpet is permeated with cancer- causing chemicals, that those chemicals cling to the dust that comes from the carpet as it is worn out, walked on and so forth, and that virtually every child gets exposed in this fashion, increasing their risk of cancer. Wouldn't you as a mother or father say: That is outrageous. Why doesn't Congress do something about that?
We are now poised to do something about that, to regulate cancer- causing toxic chemicals in our household products. It is way past time, but we have to seize this moment and make it happen.
Right now Americans are powerless to protect themselves from chemicals that hurt pregnant women, chemicals that hurt young children, chemicals that can hurt their child's development, and chemicals that could cause cancer.
Since TSCA passed in 1976, over 4 million babies have been born with birth defects and 15 million babies have been born preterm. Since 1976, 21 million people in the United States have died of cancer. And just since the Fifth Circuit case that struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's ban on asbestos in 1991, about 375,000 Americans have died from mesothelioma, a disease directly linked to asbestos exposure.
Clearly we need to change our law and replace a dysfunctional law with one that will work. This bill is set up in a fashion that it will take on the most serious, high-risk products that are already in our environment--the high-risk molecules--and have a thorough process for studying them and then acting appropriately in the cases where citizens are exposed to those products. This bill provides a process for looking at future chemicals before they are put into our products, before they cause health problems for Americans, before they cause disease, before they cause cancer, before they cause birth defects, and before they are attached to dust that gets into the lungs of our little babies crawling on carpets. That would be a tremendous improvement. We will make sure everyday products are safe before they are in our classrooms, before they are in our workplaces, and before they are in our homes.
Because of this bill, the EPA will have the tools and resources needed to evaluate all of the dangerous chemicals that are already in the market, and they will have the muscle to eliminate unsafe uses. There is nothing more important than helping the health and well-being of Americans now and for generations to come.
One key element of this dialogue has been on whether it compromises the ability of States to act when they detect chemicals they are concerned about. This bill has been specifically constructed to make sure States have that power. Any law written before April 22 is grandfathered. Certainly any bill that was written to control lead pipes in homes, that was written in the past, is grandfathered. You don't have to worry about any sort of pause or preemption of State authority.
Anytime the Federal Government says there is a high-priority chemical--one they are going to take a close look at--there is a period of time called scoping. In that period of time, any State that proposes a rule--all action on that rule is grandfathered; it can go right ahead. If the State has passed a law in that period, the law is grandfathered.
Then, during the period of time which is referred to as risk evaluation following the scoping and determining what particular forms of exposure are ones that create a risk, during that time, the only thing that would cause a State to be unable to act is if it was exactly the same chemical in exactly the same use out of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals in the world.
Furthermore, even then, there is a waiver that says the State can act if they show there is a scientific paper that shows that chemical is a risk, if they are not violating the supremacy clause of the Constitution and if they are not violating the commerce clause of the Constitution. So, in fact, States have full power to operate throughout these phases as a result of these various clauses.
The bipartisan team that has worked on this has run a marathon together. Now, after many miles, innumerable meetings, and late nights, we are just inches from a momentous improvement over current law. Current law has been completely, 100 percent dysfunctional for decades, leading to the exposure of our children, our babies, ourselves, and everyone in America to a huge list of toxic chemicals.
Senators in this Chamber will get a lot of attention for their work on this bill, but I wish to note that behind the scenes, the staff has labored day and night--a bipartisan team of staff. They worked many late nights and they had many sleepless moments while trying to figure out and finesse good policy and a path that would keep this bipartisan effort rolling forward.
I especially wish to thank my staffer who has taken the lead on this issue. Adrian Deveny has done a tremendous job. He has put in an enormous amount of time contributing substantial expertise and has worked hard to reach out to other staff members and other offices to listen and understand the challenges and the many perspectives and find a way forward. He made sure that when things were tense, lines of communication stayed open.
Because people stayed in the room and listened to each other, the staff and the Senators, on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, remained committed to the vision laid out by Frank Lautenberg that we will no longer allow Americans to be routinely exposed to toxic chemicals in their household products. That means taking on the existing chemicals, and that means having a process for new chemicals before they are introduced and making sure they do not pose a new challenge, a new disease, a new risk.
The finish line is within sight, and it is up to all of us to get there for the safety and health of every American. Let's get it done.
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