the environmental protection agency's mission to protect human health and the environment, but the trump shutdown has furloughed more than 13,000 employees, stopping inspections at drinking water systems, stopping inspections at hazardous waste management facilities, and stopping inspections at chemical facilities. this places the health of the american people and their communities in jeopardy. the trump shutdown is particularly threatening to the health and safety of our native american brothers and sisters. once again, we have failed to meet our treaty responsibilities to tribal nations. basic services like health clinics, tribal justice services, food assistance for seniors are being put at risk for nearly 1.9 million americans throughout indian country. approximately 54% of the indian health service budget goes to tribal organizations to run their own programs. during the trump shutdown, critical programs in indian country run by tribal organizations stop. this includes domestic violence prevention initiatives, indian children programs, the suicide prevention program, and alcohol and

you are the nominee to be head of the environmental protection agency -- you did not mention the word climate change. how does it happen that the nominee to be head of the environmental protection agency does not mention the words climate change at a time when the scientific community thinks climate change is a great environmental crisis facing this planet? should the american people have confidence you're going to help us do with this global crisis? >> they should have confidence because we are moving forward. our is proposal where he did co2 , approximately the same levels would implemented and we are reducing co2 from our cap they standards and we're addressing greenhouse gases to our methane program. >> the scientific community tells us we have a crisis and we need unprecedented action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, not only in this country but around the world. we are the strongest economy in the world. if the leadership of the environmental protection agency in the united states says to china, enter india and to countries all over the world we have a aggressively prote

this bill keeps the air and water clean through the work of the environmental protection agency. this bill protects and preserves national parks and other lands and helps support small businesses that depend on them. the agencies and this bill fund science, wildlife protection, energy development and arts and cultural programs in every state and they employ tens of thousands of americans. there is no reason they should be shuttered. they are simplybe too important. this shutdown is particularly devastating for indian country. every day the president continues to treat tribal programs like hostages for political gain. by his action, he g and and dangerous families across the country. ultra poor health clinics that serve urban indians have closed their doors forced to turn patients away. tribal court programs are in jeopardy, food distribution in d social service programs are on the chopping block. law-enforcement services are stretched to thehe breaking poi. thousands of tribal members are furloughed old to devastating effect. indian country is paying the price foror every day the

agency, mr. wheeler spent 25 years working in the environmental field as a career employee with the environmental protection agency, as this committee's clean air subcommittee staff director. as then the full committee star director and chief counsel, and finally as a consultant for a large variety of environmental clients. mr. wheeler's received broad and bipartisan support. former democratic vice president candidate joe lieberman who served as a member of this committee while mr. wheeler cause staff director stated when wheeler was nominated for deputy director he conducted himself as a fair and professional manner and i hope his nomination will receive similarly fair consideration by the senate. ranking member carper said of mr. wheeler said i think he cares about the environment, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the planet in which we live. the epa administrator plays a central role in developing and implementing programs and activities focused on fulfilling the epa's mission of protecting human health and the environment. we know how well qualified mr. wheeler is and when confirmed what a wea

environmental protection agency only covers part of the universe of chemicals when it comes to safety when it comes to food some particular the food and drug administration through its own regulation has a lot of oversight over the chemicals in particular that get into the food supply and ultimately into humans and for that regulation we still have almost a nine hundred fifty s. if not earlier style of regulation work chemicals are only presumed to have effects at high levels of exposure and we actually trust the industry to vouch for chemical safety now i do want to ask you about the f.d.a. position a little bit later but before we go there let me pose a question that i assume some businessman may pose to you you know these kind of ecological or epigenetic studies may take years if no day kits to accomplish and if we wait until everything is safe prove business will go out of business how would you respond to that this is not an anti business message this is a message for innovation in products and opportunities for profit actually and margin through innovation we've seen time and ag

cheese framework when it comes to regulation in the united states you would think the environmental protection agency would protect everyone from chemicals and all foods and other ingredients but the food and drug administration the u.s. department of agriculture and other entities have substantial oversight in the united states and whereas the e.p.a. updated its regulation very recently the food and drug administration still operates on a framework that assumes that the dose proof makes the proverbial. oyston and the reality is that even the f.d.a. own science suggests effects at low levels of exposure one thing that absolutely astounded me and that i didn't know before is that the f.d.a. does not have the authority to up to date or or reassess the safety of chemicals we are already on the market which is quite scary knowing how much both the bio chemical and medical industries have progress doesn't mean that once the chemical is on the market it will be on the market for ever unless the producer wants to replace it with something safer well fortunately we're seeing a lot of attention to what we cal

until late twenty sixteen the environmental protection agency had that innocent until proven guilty framework in place and president obama signed into law an update to the toxic substances control act for chemicals used in many goods and materials but in the united states we actually have more of a swiss cheese framework the environmental protection agency only covers part of the universe of chemicals when it comes to safety when it comes to food some particular the food and drug administration through its own regulation has a lot of oversight over the chemicals in particular that get into the food supply and ultimately into humans and for that regulation we still have almost an one nine hundred fifty s. if not earlier style of regulation work chemicals are only presumed to have effects at high levels of exposure and we actually trust the industry to vouch for chemical safety now i do want to ask you about the f.d.a. position a little bit later but before we go there let me pose a question that i assume some businessman may pose to you you know these kind of ecological or epigenetic studies m

working for the environmental protection agency, there's one thing i always remembered. is the first part of our mission statement was to protect human health and the environment. human health. because without that, we have nothing. it is critically important for not only me, but also are more than one million moms, death, grandmothers, cousins around this country to come together and make sure we are very vocal in assuring that climate in our protections for our children are the top priority in this country. amy: can you talk about how community's of color are particularly impacted on the front lines in their proximity for example, the coal-fired power plants? >> over one million african americans live within one mile of an oil and gas operation. a lot of people don't recognize that fence line and frontline communities are the first people impacted by any change in regulation. so when we talk about the rollback of mercury and air toxics standards and the fact the simplest thing that we all should make sure of is we're not putting poison in the air that impacts unborn ba

acting administrator wheeler is well qualified to run the environmental protection agency . >> before his leadership roles at the agency. mr. wheeler spent 25 years working in the environmental field. as a career employee with the environmental protection agency, as this committees clean-air subcommittee staff director as the full committee staff director and chief counsel and finally as a consultant for a large friday of energy and environmental clients. mr. wheeler has received broad and bipartisan support. vice presidential candidate and senator joe lieberman who served as a member of the committee while mr. wheeler was staff director or, stated when wheeler was deb beatty -- deputy that mr. wheeler conducted himself in a very professional matter and i hope his nomination will receive similarly fair consideration by the senate. i think having worked in the agency he cares about the environment, the air we breathe, the water we drink on the planet on which we live. the epa administrator plays a central role in implementing activities focused on fulfilling the epa's mission and prote

just one week ago president trump nominated you to be the ay administrator of the as environmental protection agency, the agency you already read mnd is acting administrator. if i'm not mistaken under the federal act, you could continue to service both of the epa actingnd the administrator and e president's nominee for 203 more days.rs and with many epa staff membersf furloughed today on the 26th day shut of mr. president trump's of thi government shutdown shutdownncea from a number of democratic members of the committee are r concerned thatmo for we are rusr move forward your confirmation l process. i realize we don't all agree ons this but my view is that they should want congress to approve an additional 6.5 billion in funding now for a 2,000-milern e wall along the southern borderre with mexico that they were supposed to pay for. meanwhile, because of theshuto r continuing shutdown across the country, our environment andncrn public health are increasingly in jeopardy. being with much of the shutdown theen. rules are not being written, beg drinking water and inspections are not being performed, s

the environmental protection agency also having a rally. here the help room begins at 10 am. kiet do, this is a kpix 5 morning update. >>> 20 days into the partial shutdown president trump is getting out of washington heading to texas to visit the us-mexico border. this comes one day after the meeting with congressional leaders, making no progress with the standoff. both sides refused to budge on the demand from the president for the $5.7 billion for the border wall funding. >>> governor gavin newsom will reportedly be spending on services for children while preserving the rainy day savings and funds. the legislature has until the 15th to review the plan. >>> gunned down and laid to rest and the police are still hunting for who killed mohammad othman, known as mo by friends, found shot to death outside of the central elementary school monday. >>> we expect to get an update on construction and repairs at the temporarily closed transit center, closed in september after cracks were discovered in two support beams. >>> the ferry service set sale this morning between richmond and

those that support the local indian health clinics and cities like tacoma that trust the environmental protection agency to protect the quality of their air and their water. congress should end this shutdown now so that federal workers can receive the pay that they've earned for serving us and so that our communities can again count on the government to provide taxpayers with the services that they fund, services that belong to everyone in this country. this bill is a responsible way forward. it has already passed the senate with the support of 92 senators including majority leader mcconnell. congress should not wait another day to pass this bill and reopen these agencies so i urge my colleagues to vote yes and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. calvert: thank you, mr. speaker. i may point out to my friend from the state of washington the earthquake warning system we both worked on is below the house number by $9.4 million. and so that's unfortunate. mr. speaker, i y

environmental protection agency for example hasn't implemented these limits in almost all u.s.states an average annual mean of one hundred three micrograms per cubic metre is the legal limit for n o two in the more environmentally conscious state of california it stands at fifty seven if germany adopted such norms there would be practically no driving bans the e.u. was the only place to implement the forty microgram limit meanwhile berlin plans to declare driving bans excessive if n o two levels do not exceed fifty micrograms but the european court of justice is unlikely to accept that this. also protects bad laws and we're seeing the effects of that now because the legislative executive are currently being chased by fundamentalists that they conjured up so i see those phantoms in the form of environmental action germany who were able to cite existing law. you're going to vanish sees the german government's new goal as a provocation he would like the laws on air pollution to be tightened up because this limit is actually far too lax eight hundred thousand people get sick each y

environmental protection agency doesn't issue such statistics because it believes the scientific evidence is insufficient. we travel to the zaouïa land a predominantly rural area in western germany. miners from the roar valley were sent here to this former benedictine monastery after world war two to recuperate in the fresh air the hospital here still specializes in respiratory care. for years dieter curler a former president of the german respiratory society was the medical director here he is also skeptical about the german environment agency's data. they compared two groups rural residents and city dwellers with respect to energy to. pinpoint a small difference in life expectancy the people in the country live a bit longer but that might be because they exercise a bit more drink less alcohol or smoke less or a range of other different factors attributing the difference to nitrogen dioxide or fine particulate matter isn't. scientific theory they take a statistical correlation and turn it into a causal connection without proof because on the contrary it's very easy to refute that connect

yesterday the environmental protection agency shut down toxic waste cleanups at 32 sites across america. every day, 240 calls to the drinking water contamination hot line now go unanswered. the epa's efforts to prevent, to prevent crypto-sporidium from contaminating city water supplies, something that proved a deadly threat in the city of milwaukee, have been badly delayed. epa enforcement efforts have completely stopped. medicare contractors who serve our elderly are not being paid. many of them now are dipping into their own pockets to keep health care coming, but they won't be able to do it for long. ten states have run out of the funding they use to run our unemployment insurance program, and 15 more will soon do so. 95% of all workplace safety activities have been shut down. all sweatshop enforcement has been stopped, and investigations into 3,500 potential cases of pension fraud have ground to a halt. burnedks ago when a mill down in massachusetts, workers received immediate assistance for child care, transportation and job training. last week, when 2,000 workers lost their jobs f

the clerk: nomination, environmental protection agency, william charles mcintosh of michigan, to be an assistant administrator. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that no further motions be in order, and that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the motion is on the nomination. all in favor say aye. opposed. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the senate stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate stands adjourned until progressive wing but wants to take firmer stance that when nancy pelosi came out and said she didn't want to find the wall at all, chuck schumer had to fall in line. i think for now he is sort of following what nancy pelosi wants to do and

the bill before us today would reopen the environmental protection agency, department of the interior, and other critical agencies such as the indian health service and the chemical safety and hazard investigation board. the trump shut down has suspended cleanups of hazardous materials, delayed lifesaving rule making to keep toxic chemicals out of american homes. the trump shut down threatens the enduring natural beauty and conservation efforts of our national parks as trash piles up and the safety of visitors is in question. public health and safety should not be political bargaining trips. house democrats have passed bills to open the government, but the president and the senate republicans continue to obstruct and delay instead of working with us to get the people's business done. the solution to this crisis is simple. pass the bills where we can agree. extend funding for homeland security for a month to allow time to negotiateation onboarder security and immigration policy. i hope that my colleagues across the capitol come to their senses and stop this ridiculous trump shut down.

another confirmation hearing from today for andrew wheeler, who has been picked to head the environmental protection agency. mr. wheeler has been the epa's acting administrator since july. again, that's c-span2 at 9:00 p.m. eastern. >> watch c-span for live coverage of two marches in the nation's capital. friday, the march for life starts at noon eastern. and on saturday, the women's march beginning at 1:30 p.m. eastern. this friday and saturday. live on c-span. >> the c-span cities tour exploring the american story. this weekend, we take you to independence, missouri, home to harry and bess truman. saturday at noon eastern on book tv, we'll explore the roots of independence and why it served as the starting point of america's great westward trail. >> downtown was the place to be if you were outfitting for the trails. we had several blacksmith shops there, several places you could get horses. really just outfitting general stores. you needed flour, anything to get you out west, you were going to get it here. so you can imagine a big buzzing community downtown. >> and on sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on ameri

president trump has nominated former coal lobbyist andrew wheeler as environmental protection agency administrator. wheeler is a former coal lobbyist and has been the acting head of the epa since scott pruitt resigned in july amid an onslaught of financial and ethics scandals. wheeler has regularly engaged with right-wing conspiracy accounts on social media and "liked" a racist post featuring the obamas in 2013. in the democratic republic of congo, opposition leader felix tshisekedi has been declared the provisional winner in december's presidential election. congo's independent national election commission says tshisekedi won a plurality of votes with almost 39% of the total. but election observers, including the influential church's bishops conference, say another opposition leader, martin fayulu, won handily. fayulu has denounced the results as an election coup and promised a challelenge. the result comes in an election that observers say was marred by irregularities, with opposition groups alleging fraud. more than a million congolese voters were unable to cast ballots due to vio

a worker at the environmental protection agency from illinois is going without a paycheck after serving for 26 years as a federal employee. how hard is it? she is a single mom and she says quite honestly i get by paycheck to paycheck. she has never missed a mortgage payment. she n is very serious about thoe things but now she is worried the shutdown will unpack her credit rating if she doesn't have a paycheck to pay her bills on time. shutdowns not only heard her federal workers they impact small businesses around the country who rely on the business of workers and the government. the shutdown is hurting our economy only adding to economic uncertainty. remember what happened in december? if you happen to have a retirement account with investments in stocks you've noticed december was a pretty horrible month. there was an 8.7% drop in the stock arcade in december, the worst december for the stock or get in 1930 once great depression. the ceo of jpmorgan chase is now warning that the shutdown lasts another several weeks he they could reduce our nation's quarterly economic growth to zero.

further than it has there are other unintended consequences because of the shutdown the environmental protection agency in the army are postponing a necessary hearing on clean water practices because the e.p.a. doesn't have the money to be open and those who receive food stamps may find themselves looking at empty cupboards come mid february that's because the agriculture department doesn't have enough money to fully fund the program past the middle of february there's also real concern that the millions of american taxpayers who are counting on getting refunds on their tax returns as well as the millions of retailers waiting for them to spend that money are going to be out of luck the treasury department is also closed for business. the head of brazil's environmental protection organization has resigned after the new president will scenario criticize the agency spending also now is frequently criticized the obama which is responsible for protecting the amazon rain forest and a right wing president has also announced that the funding of non-governmental organizations will be rigidly controlled it watch

offices here including the department of commerce the internal revenue service and the environmental protection agency just to name a few and just here in this city there are nine thousand federal government employees that are currently not receiving a paycheck for what you say about the parlow employees as the two women try to map out a strategy to financially survive the shutdown the challenges mount as defeated thinks about the deadlock over the funding for donald trump's border wall she's increasingly fed up they're supposed to hear our voices into things like nobody's listening and some a message to washington. and i've said this before we are now that we should not be used as your collateral damage in a political game in washington with workers in america losing out gabriel's dando al-jazeera kansas city problem going congressman in brazil has stepped down and fled the country saying he's getting too many death threats gene willis has been an outspoken critic of president. who has a history of making homophobic comments willis one another term but told the media that he has no plans to return to

what does it have to do with the environmental protection agency? chemicals safety board, with the internal revenue service, with national forest, mental health services or domestic violence programs funded through the department of t justice branch? the border wall housing administered by hud. hundreds of thousands ofds works and millions of citizens who are served by the affected agencies are being punished, wiped out of their jobs, turned away from services because the president believes that if he punishes enough people, even those on connected the legitimate issue at hand, he will get what he wants. this is time behavior. not presidential behavior. the illogic of this form of punishment struck me most vividly yesterday when i moved to reopen these unaffected agencies and leader mcconnell objected to my request.. one of the agencies covered by my request was the executive office of the president of the united states. at the white house, many of the presidents own staff are furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown.n. i stood on the f

agency will take necessary steps to protect our bees. >> and public pressure to protect the bees is growing. >>ecently over 250,000 people from across the country sent a clear message to the environmental protection agency that they need to take immediate action to phase out or suspend the use of these pesticides,id specifically clothianidin. the message that came back from the epa was, we are not listening. >> [speaking foreign language] principalcautionary followed in most of the european countries as we err on the side of caution. here in united stas, it seem to be the other way around. what the epa and the chemical companies up done has turned the environment into the experiments, and the people of become guinea pigs. we are experimental animals. >> bees are symptoms of something larger. a broken federal regulatory system tt fails to provide protection for us and our food. >> we are on a crash course. i think the bees and their demise is thessage to us. >> my grand kids and their kids -- are we going to be able to fix this before, you know -- i do not have any answer. [captions made possible by kcet television] 01/07/19 01/07/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: fro

engineers and scientists who worked for the environmental protection agency, holding this rally at the epa region 9 offices on hawthorne street between folsom and howard. federal furloughed employees will talk about how the shutdown is impacting them. >>> the partial government shutdown has reached the bay area. a help room has been set up in mountain view. to help nasa ames employees. to help some of the costs associated with daily life. >> the ames federal employee union started a couple of hours ago. it will end at 2:00 in the afternoon. joining me to talk more about it is janet rocha, who is the chief stewart. when did you guys decide to open up this help room? >> we had already had this in place in october. we knew in case this happened, we had to be prepared. because this is 20 13. this happened before. we were already prepared for this to happen. >> how many employees did this cover and? and what services did you offer? >> right now today, we're giving rebates to employees for union dues. for about five months maybe of union dues that will help them pay for their grocery bills a

. >> works for environmental protection agency and lives in sunset district. hasn't received a paycheck in weeks. >> okay this month but what about next month? my groceries? i don't have that cushion, i don't think many of us do here. we could use help of the city. >> i'm disappointed we haven't done something already. it's been a month, should have stepped forward and provided support to the workers. >> newly elected supervisor matt heaney says city hall hasn't done enough to help workers in san francisco. will be introducing a resolution calling on the city to provide assistance, free public transportation, deferred housing assistance, food assistance and short-time work assistance. >> could provide support right now. >> spokesperson says they've been working to find solutions for local federal employees and devising a strategy for consequences of long are shutdown. spoke to -- who asked b.a.r.t. staff to look into how other transation agencies around the u.s. have stepped up to help furloughed workers. abc7 news. >>> chp is helping coast guard members not g

what does it have to do with the environmental protection agency? with the chemical safety board? with the internal revenue service? with national forests? with mental health services or domestic violence programs funded through department of justice grants? with affordable housing programs administered by h.u.d.? hundreds of thousands of workers and millions much citizens who are served -- of citizens who are served by the affected agencies are being punished, loked out of their jobs, be deprived of their paychecks, deprived of their services because the president believes that if he punishes enough people, even those unconnected with the legitimate issue at hand, he will get what he wants. this is tyrant behavior, not presidential behavior. the illogic of this form of punishment struck me most vividly yesterday when i moved to reopen these unaffected agencies and leader mcconnell objected to my u.c. request. mr. president, one of the agencies covered by my u.c. request was the executive office of the president of the united states. at the white house many of the president's own

offices here including the department of commerce the internal revenue service and the environmental protection agency just to name a few and just here in this city there are nine thousand federal government employees that are currently not receiving a paycheck for what you say about the employees as the two women try to map out a strategy to financially survive the shutdown the challenges mount as defeated thinks about the deadlock over the funding for donald trump's border war she's increasingly fed up they're supposed to hear our voices into things like nobody's listening and some a message to washington. and i've said this before we are not we should not be used as your collateral damage in a political game in washington with workers in america losing out so the parcel us shutdown has affected more than eight hundred thousand federal workers as we've mentioned and they've now missed a second paycheck well the trump ministration is taking a lot of heat over what some cabinet members are suggesting for people who haven't been paid you have more on the story sara and i have quite a few examples actua

what does it have to do with the environmental protection agency? with the chemical safety board? with the internal revenue service? with national forests? with mental health services or domestic violence programs funded through department of justice grants? with affordable housing programs administered by h.u.d.? hundreds of thousands of workers and millions much citizens who are served -- of citizens who are served by the affected agencies are being punished, loked out of their jobs, be deprived of their paychecks, deprived of their services because the president believes that if he punishes enough people, even those unconnected with the legitimate issue at hand, he will get what he wants. this is tyrant behavior, not presidential behavior. the illogic of this form of punishment struck me most vividly yesterday when i moved to reopen these unaffected agencies and leader mcconnell objected to my u.c. request. mr. president, one of the agencies covered by my u.c. request was the executive office of the president of the united states. at the white house many of the president's own

>> the environmental protection agency is considering rolling ba regulations on mercury. rain damage, lrning disabilities, and other birth defects in children. >> the environmental protection agency announced the proposal today, saying that the cost of these regulations outweighs the wealth benefits. remind us again whare about mercury getting into the air? >> it's a powerful nrotoxin. there are also other hazardous air pollutants that are emitted along with mercury. >> seth: now, you might have expected trump to neglect the blue states that didn't vote for him. urwouldn't be surprised if he started dumping meover new york out of air force one. "don't breathe in, losers." [ laughter ] but this is trump country.e these ople he promised to help. and if this keeps up, trump might need a shovel to dig himselout of this hole. this has been "the check-in." [ cheers and applause ] ♪ we'll be right back with james mcavoy, everyby! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ zack. poor uncle edward. [ somber music playing ] he's passed away six times this year. [ cheering ] [ upbeat music starts ] i

their car payments some will be paying their credit cards as a furloughed chemist for the environmental protection agencyresponsible for overseeing the cleanup of some of the most toxic waste sites in the country he has been deemed a nonessential worker also non-essential it seems is the environment well there's nobody. there to safeguard current regulations and oversee any potential environmental damage so there's a violation of the law and there's no one there to you know enforce current law repeated shutdowns have led to a brain drain over the past two years the chicago region covering several states has seen one hundred fifty of the e.p.a.'s nine hundred fifty employees leave it's almost lunchtime here at the federal building in downtown chicago and it's normally bustling but today is unusually quiet and on friday many workers will be missing their first paycheck of the year across the u.s. about eight hundred thousand federal workers who are in forty three thousand dollars a year on average are either working without pay or not working at all from national parks to the farm service agency. to the al

department of homeland security, department of justice, environmental protection agency, f.a.a., air traffic control, various groups within the ag department, chemical safety board, department of labor, immigration officials. so they were from many different parts of the government affected by the shutdown. how did they describe the effect of the shutdown on them? these were almost all employees who were furloughed and their spouses and children in some instances. a couple of them were not furloughed. they were deemed essential and working without pay. how did they describe the choices they are having to make? i paid this month's mortgage payment but i'm not sure i can pay the next. i'm a diabetic, and i have to decide which of the medications i can afford this month. my kid is in college, i'm not sure i can make the entire tuition payment for the spring semester. i've had to take money out of my i.r.a. to cover my bills and pay a penalty for doing that. i'm being penalized because the shutdown of government leaves me no other choice than to dip into retirement savings that are part