Congress is considering legislation explicitly designed to make it much more difficult to implement safeguards, including those that protect public health, the environment, and food safety. The legislation, known as the REINS Act (Regulations of the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011), would kill any significant safeguard that both houses of Congress did not approve in 70 days. Requiring such second-guessing by Congress of every potential public health advance would shift decision-making from experts to politicians; allow Congress to undermine existing laws without amending them; and enable a majority in one House of Congress to void legal protections, dispensing with the role of the other body and the President.
Posted November 30, 2011 by Legislative Watch in U.S. Law and Policy
During the past two weeks, Congress finally passed and sent to President Obama the first three spending bills for the fiscal year that began October 1, even as the Supercommittee's efforts to come up with a long-range budget fell apart....continued→
Posted November 10, 2011 by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
For the third time in two weeks, the Senate has rejected extreme measures that would expose Americans to more pollution. Today, Senators voted down Tea Party attempts to block what is known as the Good Neighbor Rule and voted against...continued→
Posted November 8, 2011 by Legislative Watch in U.S. Law and Policy
The House of Representatives continues to push forward with its anti-environment agenda, passing several bills that would lead to more pollution and preparing other bills that would make it difficult to enact any regulations in the future. Meanwhile, the Senate...continued→
Posted November 8, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Last week the U.S. Senate rejected an extreme agenda disguised as a jobs and transportation bill. This unsuccessful effort was founded on the absurd notion that more pollution would mean more jobs and that what the country really needs is more...continued→
Posted October 28, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
In the law there is a concept called a "heckler's veto" to describe the ability -- but not the right -- of a person to be loud and obnoxious enough to drown out the free speech of others.This week House...continued→
Posted October 27, 2011 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, U.S. Law and Policy
Over the past several months, the Tea Party and their allies in Congress have voted more than 160 times to block public health and environmental standards. Now they are attacking the government’s ability to ever put safeguards in place. Their...continued→
Posted October 27, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
This week I testified before the House Energy & Power Subcommittee in opposition to H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. In this post, I set forth my oral statement to the subcommittee, supplemented by some additional...continued→
Posted October 21, 2011 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Senate Republicans have opened a new front in the war against public health and environmental safeguards. They released a so-called jobs plan that calls for removing standards that protect Americans from smog, arsenic, lead, mercury, and other hazardous pollutants. What...continued→
Posted October 12, 2011 by NRDC News in The Media and the Environment
Peter Lehner was quoted in a Fast Company article about the Oil Cleanup X Challenge, a competition designed to inspire a new generation of innovative solutions that will speed the pace of cleaning up seawater surface oil resulting from spillage...continued→
Posted July 20, 2011 by David Goldston in U.S. Law and Policy
I delivered the following oral and written testimony today to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Oral Testimony Mr. Chairman, Senator Collins and Members of the Committee, Thank you for inviting me to testify today and for...continued→
