During a House Appropriations Committee hearing in July, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) spoke about the Environmental Protection Agency and proposed cuts to the agency's budget.
00:00Thank the gentleman, the gentlelady from Ohio, Ms. Kappler, is recognized for remarks on the bill.
00:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Simpson, and Ranking Member Pingree, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro.
00:18Thank you all for your hard work on this bill and the members of the subcommittee.
00:22I appreciate that several of my priorities were included in the chairman's mark.
00:27In particular, I'm glad to see the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, or GLRI, funded at the fiscal 2025 enacted level.
00:36However, I believe there's a fundamental misunderstanding in this bill, and especially by the Trump administration,
00:44on how EPA's geographic programs are meant to operate as supplementary to the broader mission and programming of the Environmental Protection Agency.
00:54This is a big country, 350 million, rising to 400 million before long.
01:01And over the last 40 years, over the last 15 years, the 40 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water,
01:12recreation, and economic growth have witnessed the enormous difference the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has had on our progress as a region.
01:23GLRI has restored wetland habitat, cleaned up old, toxic industrial waste sites.
01:30Yes, I feel like I've spent so much of my career just cleaning up old, toxic industrial waste sites.
01:36And also helped reestablish wildlife that had been struggling.
01:39In Ohio alone, the bald eagle's precarious count was just four nesting pairs in 1979,
01:47as DDT had almost eliminated that species.
01:50With GLA's focus, we now marvel at over 900 nests, including hundreds in Lake Erie's Western Basin, which millions of people call home.
02:03The Great Lakes are the largest body of fresh water on Earth, a life source for over 40 million people,
02:08and we must respect its bounty for our country and continent's future.
02:13The accomplishments of the GLRI has made, what is made across our region, has been hard fought.
02:20But progress has only been possible with the underlying science base of EPA and its staff
02:29to help us identify what to clean up, especially the deadly pollutants across our freshwater lakes.
02:37The city of Toledo, unfortunately, had its freshwater shut off in 2014 as toxic algal blooms got in our freshwater supply.
02:47Our region never wants to relive that nightmare, and I don't want any of you and your people ever to have that,
02:54as thousands of people panicked and drove around the region to try to buy bottled water at different outlets
03:02that was snapped off the shelves until they were empty,
03:04and kind citizens drove in with trucks, big trucks full of water and soda pop,
03:10to try to hand it out for free in parking lots to help us endure that terrible three-day weekend.
03:15No further progress across our lakes can be made if the majority is allowed to gut this agency.
03:22So I must protest the allocation of the Environmental Protection Agency at $2.1 billion below the current fiscal year,
03:32a 23% cut, 23%.
03:35Our Great Lakes alone could use all that money.
03:39I realize that EPA is a great political punching bag.
03:42But ultimately, its statutory purpose is to protect human life, our people's health, and our environment.
03:50The EPA is pro-life.
03:53For our region, it's not a choice, but an imperative to keep EPA-funded.
03:58Big cuts to clean air accounts and significant reductions to water quality programs needlessly endanger the well-being of Americans,
04:08numerous species, and our corner of the world.
04:11With all the cuts that already have been made to medical facilities and health care,
04:17our medical communities are very worried and stretched to deal with increasing numbers of patients coming into emergency rooms
04:24as health care resources diminish.
04:27A child sick on toxic algal blooms, my friends, is an emergency room case.
04:33And it's coming because we won't have the funds to deal with the reality of what we face.
04:37The bill before us today cuts $1.2 billion, or 30%, from EPA's core science and environmental programs.
04:46That is driving the boat backwards.
04:49This cut will further delay permitting, despite the Republicans' insistence that they want to streamline it.
04:56You simply can't cut 30% of resources and then expect quicker service.
05:02Can't do it.
05:03These cuts are affecting our communities already, as our country has witnessed terrible flooding over the last few weeks,
05:10as we've all known.
05:11And rather than stepping into their leadership responsibilities and making investments in clean, safe drinking water and watershed management,
05:19my Republican colleagues are proposing a $662 million cut from the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds.
05:27To be clear, America's population is growing, but you're giving us less funds when our constituents need it most
05:34to protect themselves and their families from going underwater, both physically and financially.
05:40The costs of water in sewer installations are rising, and for many families are unaffordable.
05:45In Ohio families, sewer installations are rising, and they are leaving, trying to find and relocating,
05:51because they simply can't pay these bills.
05:53As always, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for delivering results, and I hope that we can work this through
06:00to provide a realistic bill to meet the current needs of America, not the needs of 1946.
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