Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 7023.

Mr. Chair, despite meeting every stipulated requirement, my amendment to this dangerous bill to protect our children from pollutants in their water was not ruled in order.

Something is not right. This is unacceptable as a matter of parliamentary process, and it is unacceptable because our children's health is at risk.

Infants and children are among the most vulnerable to the negative health effects of pollutants in their water. They are often the closest to the source. They crawl on the floor and in the grass, and they put anything they find in their mouths, including their hands, which puts them at greater risk of exposure to toxins.

Their immune systems are the least prepared to handle this exposure. Children's internal organs are still developing and maturing. According to the National Institutes of Health, kids' immune systems may provide less natural protection against toxins than adults. Infants and children face more critical periods when exposure to toxic chemicals may alter their health for the rest of their lives.

The Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act would increase the risk to our children by limiting the tools and processes that the EPA utilizes for monitoring the health of our water, improving water quality, and limiting pollutants from entering our waters in the first place.

The amendment I submitted was simple. It would have paused the changes within the bill until the EPA could certify that they would not lead to increased discharges of pollutants that have adverse effects on infants and children from increased exposure.

Some of these pollutants we may see more of are linked to neurological disorders, behavioral changes, and certain forms of cancer, including breast cancer, leukemia, and brain tumors.

My colleagues and I across the aisle may not agree on the merits of the Clean Water Act or the importance of protecting our local waters from contamination and degradation, but surely we can all agree that protecting our Nation's infants and children from toxic chemicals is our shared responsibility and that we simply need to know where there is poison in our water and whether we are giving it to our children.

For that reason, Mr. Chair, at the appropriate time I will offer my amendment as a motion to recommit because I will never stop fighting for our children.

This is not just a bad bill. It is dangerous for our kids.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the text of my amendment, and I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for this motion to recommit for our children.

Ms. Scholten moves to recommit the bill H.R. 7023 to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure with instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith, with the following amendment:

Add at the end the following: SEC. __. DETERMINATION ON ADVERSE EFFECTS ON THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS.

This Act, including the amendments made by this Act, shall not take effect until the date on which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency issues a determination that the implementation of this Act, including the amendments made by this Act, will not result in discharges (within the meaning of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act) that may have adverse effects on the health of children or infants, including birth defects, learning disabilities, asthma, and cancer.

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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