Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1174, I call up the bill (H.R. 6409) to amend the Clean Air Act to clarify standards for emissions emanating from outside of the United States, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
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Mr. PALMER. 6409.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6409, the FENCES Act, which addresses the need for commonsense reforms on how emissions impact our Nation's ability to support domestic manufacturing and unleash affordable and reliable energy.
For far too long, burdensome regulations have stood in the way, allowing investments to go overseas while Americans are forced to pay higher prices. Many of these costly regulations result from regulatory burdens associated with the Clean Air Act.
The legislation considered today makes targeted and effective reforms that will support American job creators while continuing to protect our environment and the air we breathe.
The legislation produced by my colleague Congressman August Pfluger of Texas ensures that States and local communities are not penalized for foreign air emissions emanating from outside our borders. Across the country, States are being unfairly penalized for pollution that originates from foreign nations, including air emissions from natural events, like the Canadian wildfires.
Currently, the Clean Air Act allows States to adjust their plans when foreign emissions prevent them from meeting Federal standards. However, the guidance from the EPA under the previous administration narrowed that relief, limiting it to only human-caused emissions from abroad.
This bill clarifies that all foreign emissions, whether natural or man-made, are excluded from consideration when determining whether a State meets national air quality standards.
Importantly, the bill allows States to account for foreign emissions earlier in the regulatory process, instead of forcing them to wait until the very end and risk costly delays or Federal sanctions.
Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to me to hear my Democratic colleagues talk about where Republicans are on healthcare when, in fact, it was Republicans who initiated the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund that every Democrat voted against.
As a matter of fact, just this year, the State of New Jersey is going to get $147,250,806 from the Rural Health Transformation Fund. I think that is a pretty good investment in trying to improve healthcare for people all over the country.
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Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, again, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to talk about Republican positions on healthcare. I will remind them again that, in particular, the State of Ohio received $202,030,262 from the Rural Health Transformation Fund that every Democrat voted against. I remind my colleagues that the Republicans have made a major investment in healthcare.
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Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman bringing up the situation that people in rural America find themselves in. What we tried to do with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with the Rural Health Transformation Fund was meet a lot of those needs. The State of Texas got more money than any other State, $281,319,361, to try to improve healthcare opportunities for people who live in disadvantaged areas. What we are also trying to do is improve those conditions, to give people an opportunity to have a better job, to have better options in food, and have better healthcare options, as well. That is a big part of what we are trying to do with the modernization of the Clean Air Act and these bills that we bring before the House today.
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Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, I don't think we want to follow the California model for America's economic future, with their high energy prices, the highest poverty rate in the country, and destructive economic policies driving businesses out of the State.
I think with Republicans' policies, it is very clear that we have the best interests of the people at heart.
Mr. Speaker, I would just like to point out that no one wants polluted air and polluted water. We have made tremendous advances in pollution control. As a matter of fact, I worked for two international engineering companies, one of which was in environmental systems. We built the pollution control equipment that has made our air demonstrably cleaner. We built flue gas scrubbers. We built electrostatic precipitators and baghouses.
The technology has improved dramatically since I left my work in the field of engineering. Since 1980, we have reduced pollution from the six criteria gases monitored by the EPA by 78 percent. That is despite the fact that the economy has grown over 240 percent. That is $2.9 trillion to an economy of $30.6 trillion adjusted for inflation.
Vehicles miles driven are up 113 percent, and the population is up over 50 percent, yet we have seen remarkable improvements in air quality.
What we are trying to do with this long overdue effort to modernize the Clean Air Act is to not only continue to keep our air clean and our water clean, but to improve economic opportunity to people, particularly people who are disadvantaged such as I was growing up.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues, Democratic and Republican, to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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