January 15, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 8 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
DISSENTING VIEWS TO THE ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 8
(Extensions of Remarks - January 15, 2019)
Text available as:
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E48-E49] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] DISSENTING VIEWS TO THE ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS ______ HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR. of new jersey in the house of representatives Tuesday, January 15, 2019 Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, today I include in the Record Dissenting Views to the Activity Report of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives for the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress (Activity Report). The Activity Report, which was filed by the Republican majority on January 2, 2019, should have included these dissenting views, however, they were not included. I am taking this action to ensure that the House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats can exercise their right under House Rule XI to submit these dissenting views so that they are made part of the official House record. House Rule XI gives the majority party authority and the responsibility for setting our committee's agenda and to determine which jurisdictional areas and matters (and the extent to which) it will oversee or investigate. The Energy and Commerce Committee marked up and reported out important bipartisanship legislation in the 115th Congress, like H.R. 6, H.R. 304, H.R. 931, H.R. 1320, H.R. 2430, H.R. 2345, H.R. 3387, H.R. 5333, and H.R. 6378. Each of these bills was considered pursuant to regular order at every major legislative stage and should be seen as being displays of some of our greater legislative accomplishments. We would have been more successful as a committee this Congress had our Republican majority believed in and followed regular order more consistently. Regular order was nowhere to be found at the beginning of the 115th Congress. Republican House leaders and committee chairs exiled regular order at the start of the 115th Congress to deliver on their party's promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act as soon as possible after assuming unified government following the 2016 Presidential and federal elections. Less than two months from the Committee's organization at the beginning of 2017, our Committee's Republican majority hurriedly noticed for full Committee markup a draft print, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The AHCA was subsequently introduced and numbered as H.R. 1628. As we noted in our Minority Views to that bill's legislative report that accompanied it to the House floor: Despite the wide-ranging, serious implications of this legislation for the health and financial security of all Americans, the Committee did not hold a single hearing on the details and effect of the legislation. Notably, stakeholders have not had the ability to weigh in on the impacts of the bill to the health care system. In fact, the Committee received letters from hospitals, doctors, and patient and advocacy groups all outlining their significant concerns with the legislation. Additionally, despite Speaker Ryan's claims that the bill would be considered through regular order and through a transparent process, the repeal bill was drafted in secret and introduced less than two days before markup. The minority is deeply concerned by the decision to proceed to markup without first receiving the views of the CBO on the impact of this legislation on health insurance coverage, costs, and the federal budget. This exercise, which signaled that Committee Republicans might apply regular order sporadically and unpredictably, set the tone for the 115th Congress. Bills that the Republican majority chose not to put through regular order were appreciably more partisan and controversial. These included H.R. 1628 and other troublesome bills to change the Clean Power Plan standards or to amend the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations and standards. Other Republican practices reflected in legislation acted on by the Committee, which Democrats saw and opposed, included attacks on funding and programs that promote and protect Democratic priorities, such as the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Committee Democrats also took issue at times with bills that relied on weak justifications and policies to support Congressional action, change, or clarification to existing statutes and federal programs that would weaken environmental and consumer health, public safety, and privacy protections. These legislative measures implemented policies and amended regulations to create loopholes and other compliance safe harbors. Our Republican majority acted on legislation that rolled back environmental and other consumer health and safety protections by moving further into the future well-noticed compliance deadlines for EPA new source performance standards applying to new residential wood and hydronic heaters and forced-air furnaces as well as national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for brick and structural clay products and clay ceramics manufacturing and power plants using coal refuse facilities under the Clean Air Act. While some of these bills and amendments were intended to provide more legal and business certainty to industry; a good deal of them extended more regulatory relief than needed to properly balance the respective interests of all actors and stakeholders. The Committee appropriately exercised its jurisdictional discretion and prerogative at times to convene very important oversight hearings. For example, the Republican majority conducted formal oversight to raise critically important questions about Facebook's data protection and security practices and policies, and why those practices were insufficient to prohibit and prevent Cambridge Analytica from collecting and using Facebook user and other platform data to influence 2016 Presidential election voters. The Republican majority, however, suppressed its oversight duties and responsibilities to call more fervently upon the Trump Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to appear before the Committee and explain its role in relation to the Administration's ``zero tolerance'' policy. As a result, the Ranking Member of the Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. introduced H. Res. 982, a resolution of inquiry (RoI), requesting President Trump and directing the Secretary of HHS to transmit certain information and records to the House of Representative relating to the separation of children from their parents or guardians in connection with the President's ``zero tolerance'' policy. In his dissenting views to the report covering the Committee's RoI proceeding, Ranking Member Pallone asserted that the Committee should have acted more quickly and decisively to understand and to offer its views regarding the family border separation crisis: My resolution of inquiry is ripe for action . . . For better, far more than worse, family unification is vital to all of [us] as individuals and to our physical and mental health and overall well-being. Regardless of one's citizenship status or the country from which they are migrating to the United States, happy and stable families are undeniably essential to becoming and staying healthy. For that reason alone, separating children from [[Page E49]] their families, regardless of whose policy it is or the objectives behind that policy, is suspect on its face and must be balanced by (our thorough) input, as a separate and co-equal branch of the federal government. Our Committee should not allow or tolerate further delay but this Administration in providing answers to our questions or soliciting our advice and reactions regarding this unabated crisis. In order to perform our sworn duties as elected representatives and leaders, we must convene an oversight hearing as soon as possible. For these reasons, H. Res. 982 should have been favorably reported. While our Committee continued its important bipartisan traditions this Congress, in the 115th Congress the Republican majority failed to conduct any legitimate oversight of the Trump Administration, failing to hold them accountable for the cost of their policies to undermine critical health care, environmental and consumer protections. Republicans also failed to prioritize the lives of everyday Americans. Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats pursue policies that help everyday people by building a stronger economy, creating more good paying jobs, and protecting consumers from skyrocketing costs that make it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.