OPINION: Attacks on EPA are shortsighted
Source: The Hill, 5/13/2011
ASP board member former Governor Christine Todd Whitman authors an op-ed.
By Christine Todd Whitman
As Congress faces the very real challenges of cutting federal spending and putting the country on the path to a balanced budget, it faces predictable pushback each time it identifies a program to cut. The magnitude of what lawmakers are trying to accomplish argues for a thoughtful approach that separates out short-term political and ideological cuts from the larger, more impactful ones.
The debate over the future of the Environmental Protection Agency is one of those debates where an ideological agenda, disguised as budget cutting, will result in a short-term political statement at a long-term cost in dollars and health.
President Nixon created the EPA in recognition that Americans’ health and environment would continue to deteriorate if pollution was not curtailed. American people asked the federal government to address this area, where states and businesses had not or would not act. Concurrently, Congress worked across the aisle to pass the Clean Air Act 73-0 in the Senate and 374-1 in the House and our economy has thrived.
