ms. mccarthy served in the epa office of air and radiation. from capitol hill, this is about two and a half hours. >> the committee on science and technology will come to order. welcome to everyone to today's hearing entitled strengthening transparency and accountability within the environmental protections agency. going to recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement and then i will recognize the ranking member for hers. the environmental protection agency, like every other governmental institution, should answer to the american people. everyone agrees we need to protect the environment but we should do so in a way that is open and honest. democracy requires transparency and accountability. yet the epa justifications for the regulations are cloaked in secret science. it appears that the pa and the law and strengthens the science suggested by its own objectives. americans impacted by the agency's regulations have the right to see the data and determine for themselves independently if these regulations are based on sound science o

ms. mccarthy and i recognize myself for a question. the first one is this. when he testified before this committee in september of 2011 you promise to provide the data behind epa's health benefit claims and yet to my knowledge you have not done that. yet the agency continues to justify -- based upon the studies. you have given the committee some information but do you agree the information you have given us so far is insufficient to validate these findings? >> mr. chairman my understanding is that we have submitted information that you requested. >> aidala denied that that is the information you have given us sufficient to validate the findings that you have come to speak it is sufficient for you to understand. >> i know it's sufficient to understand that is the information you've given us sufficient to validate the findings that you have concluded? >> i believe it's efficient for you to understand that we have relied on previous -- >> let me say we have got a letter from the epa saying it was not sufficient so you might want to check with other individuals

ms. mccarthy, i'm over here. i know that we are kind of jumping around and i think that earlier you gave me my favorite tweet of the day. which is i am lucky enough -- [inaudible] >> the quote that i'm lucky enough not to have to sign-up for obamacare. and that is wonderful. i wish my constituents could stay the same. >> i think i was referring to i'm lucky enough to have good health to you. >> doucet also hear testimony they are $2 billion in new jobs from the epa i would like to point out that one facility alone in my district is a 7 billion-dollar of new construction representing 13,000 jobs in your administration and they are saying because of a two-week furlough it will take many more weeks to look at this. and i would request that given the circumstances of our poor economy and the fact that this needs to be done, it is meeting all the epa requirements and i would ask that you, and i will follow-up with you, that you look at this and expedite expediter. the 12,000 jobs is a lot of jobs. >> i'm sorry, what k

ms. mccarthy. i recognize myself for the question. when you testified before the committee in september of 2011, you promise the to provide the data behind the health benefit claims. yet, to my knowledge, you have not done that. yet the agency continues to justify major regulations based upon these studies. now you have given the committee some information. do you agree that the information you have given us so far is insufficient to validate these findings? >> mr. chairman, my understanding is that we have submitted information that you requested. >> the information you have given us sufficient to validate the findings that you've come to? >> it is sufficient for you to understand the peer review -- >> i know stuff understand. but validated independently. is the information you have given us sufficiently to validate independently the findings you have concluded? >> i believe it's e fresh sei to -- peer review. >> we have an letter from the epa saying it was not sufficient. so you might want to check with other individuals within the

ms. mccarthy for being here. the chairman in his opening comments said that the epa should answer to the american people. do you agree with that? tomac we work for the american people, yes. >> have you ever owned a business? >> no. >> use at your comments that you were here to talk about the role that science plays. have you ever heard the statement that all scientists are only sure about one thing and that is that every scientist before them was wrong? >> i have not. >> does the science ever change? >> sure, yes it does. >> so if you are here to talk about the role that science plays in the epa deliberations, what would you say is the second thing that plays the role in the deliberations? >> if i could say three things, ththat science can't walk and transparency. >> we are off to a good start. i don't member who the exchange was with but was it with omb, but not a science advisory board. by law it was playing the part n deliberations of the science. so by law you're supposed to submit the same rule on the same d

sunday times essentially the same is that ms bentley said step down from her position because of tensions involving the president's executive assistant kevin mccarthy to be so nice it's earthy was a senior person at the ars to seek permission to reach the light died so that her saturday over three thousand euro. it could be paid to mr mccarthy's post is in you when he's not a civil servant he works alongside the president's private sector it's been called one insider said to me today was d engine room of the presidency he first came to present the incident in germany told them during the presidential election campaign that is new or old he's always at the president's sites that support distress as opposed to each presidency has a new star that can involve change that can involve disruption we remember when andy robinson who won the presidential election she re organize the stuff of the artist. there were some redundancies that was the row over that. likewise after fourteen years of mini maccabees that there were about to be changes. no officially at the rss is paid tribute to the mini done he said. to say she made a valuable contribution during our

ms. pelosi: i'd also like to talk about another of our colleagues who was affected by this. congresswoman carolyn mccarthy. carolyn mccarthy serves in this congress with us and she is a distinguished congresswoman from the state of new york. congresswoman mccarthy's father and brother were career boilermakers. each night they brought home asbestos fibers in their clothes . over time, exposure to this asbestos affected congresswoman mccarthy herself and today she is battling asbestos-related lung cancer. her story is like the stories of countless americans across the country. it's up to us to strengthen the health of those suffering from exposure. it is up to us to act in their names, whether they suffer from cancer today or face the prospect of severe illness in the future. yet this republican measure we consider today does not meet this challenge. like far too many republican bills in this congress, this legislation only serves to make matters worse for the american people. so the called -- there it is again -- the so-called fact act actually harms the american people. that is a fact. and hinders the abi