00:00Madam President.
00:03Senator from West Virginia.
00:05Thank you, Madam President.
00:06I ask unanimous consent that the following interns on the Committee on Agriculture
00:10be granted floor privileges through June 27, 2025.
00:15Riley Swofford, Jaden Stansberry, Caroline Brickey, Flossie Glinski, and Caleb Parker.
00:22Without objection.
00:23Thank you, Madam President.
00:25Madam President, I rise as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
00:30I rise today in support of the nomination of David Fatui to be the Deputy Administrator
00:35of the Environmental Protection Agency.
00:39Behind Administrator Lee Zeldin, who I believe is doing an excellent job,
00:44Mr. Fatui's position is of the utmost importance to the agency.
00:49And his perspective is essential in returning the agency to its core mission,
00:54in support of President Trump's administrative agenda.
00:59Mr. Fatui has spent the previous years of his career representing clients
01:03on matters relating to all types of environmental law.
01:06And before that, he previously served as the Acting General Counsel
01:10and Principal Deputy General Counsel at the EPA, so he has tons of experience.
01:15Mr. Fatui has been recognized by multiple national law publications
01:20for his work in environmental and energy law, and as a leader on those issues.
01:27Mr. Fatui's previous experience at the EPA provides him with a wealth of perspective
01:33on the agency's critical role in protecting our environment, our land, and our water, and our air.
01:40While doing so within the bounds of the legal authority that Congress has established,
01:45the EPA Deputy Administrator is generally tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the agency.
01:52In this role, Mr. Fatui will coordinate the work of EPA's important air, water, and chemical offices.
02:00In addition to the EPA's regional offices, which touches all of us, the research, enforcement, and general counsel teams.
02:09Effectively integrating the agency's work will be at the top of Mr. Fatui's list of responsibility.
02:15Facilitating economic growth while protecting public health and the environment requires the agency to establish consistent
02:25and legally defensible regulations, fairly and clearly enforce those rules,
02:31and communicate with the states, communities, and entities that are impacted by those regulations.
02:37Throughout the confirmation process, both in meetings with me and in front of our committee and his testimony, the EPW committee,
02:46Mr. Fatui displayed incredible knowledge and understanding of the tasks before him
02:52and pledged to uphold the principle of cooperative federalism.
02:56His vast experience has positioned him well for service at the EPA,
03:01and his presence will move forward the initiatives that are important to the success of our country.
03:09The fact of the matter is that Mr. Fatui is well qualified and equipped to fulfill this role.
03:14I have confidence he will refocus the agency back to fulfilling its core mission
03:20and away from pushing extreme regulations that threaten the reliability of our electric grid and our American competitiveness.
03:30Too often we have nominees that have a lot of experience regulating but no experience advising entities on complying with regulations.
03:39This is an important perspective for the agency to have and one that Mr. Fatui brings to the table.
03:46I encourage my colleagues to join me and my fellow EPW committee members in supporting this nomination
03:52so we can get to work together on efforts that improve the lives of Americans across the country and to protect,
03:59and I'll say that again, and to protect our environment.
04:03And with that, I yield the floor, Madam President.
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04:31Thank you, Madam President.
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