Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This amendment would prevent funds from being used to expand EPA authority pursuant to section 115 of the Clean Air Act.

Now, this isn't an amendment to assail the Clean Air Act, but there is a flaw with it, which is section 115. That section of the Clean Air Act allows the EPA to mandate State emissions levels to whatever amount the agency deems appropriate if they find two things. They have to find that U.S. emissions endanger a foreign nation; and the endangered nation has a reciprocal agreement to prevent or control emissions in their own nation.

Now, it was previously argued that the Paris climate agreement met those requirements. When they wrote the Clean Air Act back in the 1970s, they never foresaw the Paris Agreement. And the Paris Agreement is not a treaty. It is an agreement.

Fortunately, President Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement has alleviated those prior concerns. Whether you agree with this President or the last one or the future President is immaterial.

The point is that this portion of the law shouldn't exist. That authority shouldn't exist at the executive level, especially when we don't do treaties anymore.

Despite the temporary relief, the fact remains that section 115 of the Clean Air Act is just simply bad policy. Section 115 delegates an incredible amount of authority to the executive branch without any safeguards, without any oversight by the legislative branch.

This amendment would block the use of section 115 to delegate this power over the energy sector, over our States, to the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats at the EPA.

In the future, such expansive authority at the EPA could be economically devastating and could threaten the reliability and viability of our Nation's energy sector without any checks and balances.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

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If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, what I am concerned about is not necessarily the Trump administration or the Obama administration. Any administration with the unbridled power that section 115 gives the administration, without any checks or balances, to make an agreement with another nation and then enforce--have their agency enforce their regulations at whatever they deem appropriate on every single State in the United States, without any ability of Congress to intervene whatsoever.

It is not particular to this administration, the last administration, or any future administration. It is particular to all of them. The authority, in my opinion, should not exist for them to do that without any checks and balances from the legislative branch.

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