Tsca Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, as the song said, it has been a long, strange trip getting here, and it has had its share of near-death experiences, as Senator Udall is intimately aware of. I was involved with Senator Merkley and Senator Booker in one of those near-death experiences. If this was a rocket with stages, one of the major stages was the Merkley-Booker-Whitehouse effort in the committee. I just wanted to say it was the first time the three of us worked together as a triumvirate. They were wonderful to work with. They were truly a pleasure. We had a lot on our plates. We made about a dozen major changes in the bill.

I want to take just a moment to thank Emily Enderle on my staff, who was terrific through all of the negotiations and renegotiations and counternegotiations in that stage. But this was obviously a rocket that had many more stages than that one.

I thank Chairman Inhofe and his staff for their persistence through all of this.

Ranking Member Boxer was relentless in trying to make this bill as strong as she could make it through every single stage, and it is marked by that persistence.

Senator Vitter and Senator Udall forged the original notion that this compromise could be made to happen, and they have seen it through, so I congratulate them.

The House had a rather different view of how this bill should look. Between Senator Inhofe, Senator Udall, Representative Pallone, and Representative Upton, they were able to work out a bicameral as well as a bipartisan compromise that we all could agree to.

There are a lot of thanks involved, but I close by offering a particular thank-you to my friend Senator Udall. In Greek mythology there is a Titan, Prometheus, who brought fire to humankind. His penalty for bringing fire to humankind was to be strapped to the rock by chains and have Zeus send an eagle to eat his liver every single day. It is an image of persisting through pain. I do have to say Senator Vitter may have had his issues on his side--I do not know how that looked--but I can promise on our side Tom Udall persisted through months and months of pain, always with the view that this bill could come to the place where this day could happen.

There are times when legislation is legislation, and there are times when legislation has a human story behind it. This is a human story of courage, foresight, persistence, patience, and willingness to absorb a considerable number of slings and arrows on the way to a day when slings and arrows are finally put down and everybody can shake hands and agree we have, I think, a terrific victory. While there is much credit in many places, my heart in this is with Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, we rise to highlight two mercury- specific provisions--the creation of a mercury inventory and expansion of the export ban to certain mercury compounds--in the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act that the Senate will approve tonight. These provisions are sections of the Mercury Use Reduction Act that we introduced in the 112th Congress with the late Senator Frank Lautenberg, after whom this legislation is named, and with then-Senator John Kerry. Senator Leahy and Senator Merkley have been longtime partners in these efforts. Senator Leahy was a leader in the Senate's consideration of a resolution of disapproval concerning the Bush administration's mercury rule. I yield to Senator Leahy.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I thank Senator Merkley. We are pleased these provisions were included in a bill and believe it is fitting they are included in a package designed to protect the public from toxic chemicals, like mercury, and named after the late Frank Lautenberg, one of the original cosponsors of the Mercury Use Reduction Act.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I will yield the time.

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