when the e.p.a. issued its final rule strengthening the national ambient air quality stan tards in 2015 this decision was based on the review of thousands of studies showing ozone's harmful effects. ozone is a pollutant. if we do not take our responsibility seriously to ensure every american has clean and healthy air to breathe so those with asthma will experience -- will not experience more attacks, we need to mike sure that our children aren't developing chronic bronchitis and asthma and we risk increased numbers of premature deaths across the country. every american deserves clean air now. we cannot afford an almost decades--- almost decade-long the lay of improved air pollution standards. according to the american lung association, nearly four in 10 people in the united states live in counties that have unhealthy, unhealthy levels of either ozorn or particulate pollution. more than 125 million americans live in 204 counties where they are exposed to concerning levels of air pollution in the form o

the e.p.a. is tasked with setting standards and regulations for certain defined pollutants, including ground level ozone. ommonly referred to as smog. the environmental protection agency has set these standards and adjusted as necessary in 1971, 1979, 1997, and 2008. since 1980, ozone levels have declined by 33% according to the e.p.a., thanks in large part to diligent state oversight of industries and planning, and along with weather patterns and outside temperatures which all contribute to ozone levels. ozone has been a particular issue in the north texas area that i represent where hot summer days and prevailing southerly breezes cause air quality issues that affect outdoor activities and may create health concerns. in 2015, the e.p.a. proposed changing the 2008 ozone standards that had not yet been fully implemented. despite nearly 00 state -- national, state, and local organizations, and stakeholders requesting that the e.p.a. allow the 2008 standards to be adopted before moving the goal pos

grants like the e.p.a.'s targeted grants and diesel emission reduction act helps thousands of agriculture, trucking and other businesses acquire low-emitting tractors, trucks and other equipment. this funding generates jobs and manufacturing here in the united states. these federal funding -- this federal funding has a great track record of benefiting our region and it's a good investment. e.p.a. estimates that for every $1 spent on dera, more than $0 in health benefitses are general -- $20 in health benefits are generated. all 50 states have these programs. i also want to highlight how this bill, combined with other referenced by the trump administration, will continue to negatively impact air quality and health. states have made a tremendous progress toward addressing climate change and public health. however, ozone standard implementation act would take a step backward, destroying much of the progress leading to greater harm to the public health and our economy. i urge a yes vote on this amendment and i r

the next head of the e.p.a. is with toxic regulatory division form supposed to inform the public when a chemical is harmful well they may well in the being the same guy who is completely unapologetic about his ties with big tobacco in huge chemical companies michael verisign is former e.p.a. scientist who now runs a nonprofit group known as terra if given the e.p.a. position this precious allied to bacco in this friend the big chemical manufacturers will have the power to keep you in the dark about potentially dangerous chemicals joining me now for more on this is molly barrows legal journalist with the trial lawyer magazine. molly you know first of all i know this guy personally have had even trial we'll talk about that in just a minute he is a complete nut job but up aside from that what should the public know about this guy before he slides into that position well it's so interesting to me that he was a toxicologist for the e.p.a. he left twenty years ago started his own company a nonprofit called terra which

the court said the e.p.a. can re-write the rule, but it can't take the short-cut of suspending enforcement. juliet eilperin is a reporter for the "washington post," and she's been covering this story. welcome back to the "newshour". >> of course, thanks. >> brangham: tell me, what did the court, in essence, rule? >> what the court said is it wouldn't necessarily stand in the way if the administration wanted to we are write an existing rule on the oil and gas industry but the administration couldn't simply suspend compliance with the rule, it had to go through laborious public comment process if it wanted to do that. >> brangham: this rule is about methane that, as you've reported and many others, that methane is particularly potent greenhouse gas, 25 times more potent than co2 is. what did the obama administration rule actually do? >> it imposed new restrictions on oil and gas wells that are either new or modified, that if the oil and gas industry was going to create a new well or modify an existing one, it had

have the consumer safety legislation the safety and health regulations the workplace osha we had the e.p.a. clean water act mining safety act but these came out of movements they came out of the pressure of popular movement just like the new deal if it hadn't been for you know c.e.o. organizing sit down strikes labor militancy political activism the new deal policies would have been an act of there never gifts from there happened to be a reasonably sympathetic administration in the thirty's but as roosevelt himself pointed out better pressure me otherwise i can't do it and that's one of the signal part of the significance of solidarity you talk about the nanny state what do you mean by the nanny state twenty mean by that the nanny state is a state that gives gifts to the proof to sectors that have the power to demand it which typically means the rich and the powerful in there or you know there's so is this like subsidies to the fossil fuel industry well that there's. hundreds of billions of dollars i think it's something like five hundred billion a year to the fossil fuel industry you talk

it's the overregulation by the e.p.a. which one regulation did they single out as being the one that is the most serious one, and that is the waters of the united states? in my state of oklahoma, we have out in the panhandle, it's a very arid area. if we change the jurisdiction from the states to the federal government, i'm sure that would become some type of a serious problem with all the water that is not out there. but anyway, we had the waters of the united states, the clean power plan, the e.p.a., the b.l.m. methane rules fixing compliance issues with most recently the next standards. also i will be pursuing ways to amend the r.f.s. and the cafe programs from rescinding the california waiver that drives cafe issues and harmonizing the e.p.a.-d.o.t. rule maker to reforms of the r.f.s. programming, including requiring any e-15 or higher blend be tied to the commercial availability of sell iew lossity -- sell lossity ethanol or requiring certain criteria to be reached before the e-15 waiver is triggered. there are many w

of a sudden we the e.p.a. now looks like a bunch of boneheads because they allowed all this to happen they're trying to defend themselves and say oh gee whiz how could we know well the way you could know is to look at the studies and they have the studies now i think it's really interesting fair that monsanto is saying we're not going to release the studies to the public because these are our trade secrets have you followed that we're now the questions being asked what did you lie about what did you cover up here and so questions are being asked we'd like to see the studies and now monsanto said no no gee we can't give you those studies those are studies we know what's in the studies don't go in. oh absolutely and you know that's what that's why these lawsuits against months sanal right now over round up are so important because that is the only way the public is going to understand what the company knew when they knew it and how they covered it up that is one of the most important things about most of the laws

back in march, the e.p.a.a ban on a controversial pesticide called chlorpyrifos, which is surprising because the e.p.a.'s own scientists found "ingesting even minuscule amounts can interfere with brain development." in other words, it's the chemical equivalent of "fox & friends." ( laughter ) so why-- the question is. ( cheers and applause ) a great show, well produced. well-produced show. i'm a fan. so why did pruitt overturn the ban? we don't really know. but we just learned that right before he made the decision, he met privately with the c.e.o. of dow chemical, who makes the pesticide, for a half hour at a houston hotel. and that looks really bad. because there is no convincing way to explain spending time in houston. ( laughter ) because of the humidity. they're lovely people. before this came out, dow had been lobbying the trump administration to, "set aside" the findings of federal scientists. and the administration has done them one better by setting aside science. luckily, we've still got science fict

revolution in just a moment and with his pick of yet another corporate insider for a top job in the e.p.a. is donald trump laying the groundwork for what f.d.r.'s vice president henry wallace called american fascism a layout that argument with marc anthony and scott greer and it's from. democrats democrats have a lot working in their favor right now for starters the president is wildly unpopular and congressional democrats aren't exactly in good graces with the american people either based on those two facts alone democrats have a real chance to win back the senate maybe even the house and twenty eighteen so why does it feel like democrats are squandering their big opportunity joining me now is larry cohen or chair of our evolution board chair of the democracy initiative larry welcome back pleasure great having you with us so the story that prompted my latest what the hell are they doing is this. bloomberg story that the d triple c. is trying to recruit blue dogs and it's like. you know i get it that there are blue dog democrats in the democratic party and i'm not and in and perhaps in so

frazee: i think the usda and e.p.a. need to address those issues in small communities like where i'm from. we need help from our government, federal government. mrs. gillibrand: thank you. mr. kricun: thank you. for example, in the instance of lead, i think lead aware seasons very important. we not only need to make sure that we're treating water at the source, the drinking water treatment plants it self, but making sure that the conduits from the plant to the home and also the internal plumbing within the home are also subject to lead plumbing. most homes built prior to 1980 could have leaded soer. even if the water coming from the plant is safe, the children who use the water may be tanlted with lead, the water may be tanlted with lead by sitting overnight in lead plumbing. lead awareness, making sure they're aware of filters or rung the water to reduce the risk -- running the water to reduce the risk. with regard to contaminants and chemicals, i agree with mr. frazee that it's important to have a federal and state ass

e.p.a. where bunch of states said hey we're feeling the effects of climate change e.p.a. you need to regulate it under your existing clean air act authority and the john roberts court in a five to four decision said the e.p.a. must regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a pollutant so the obama's ration did it and trump just completely threw it out the door says so basically violating the supreme court decision so they have to come up with a replacement but he can slow walk that for years i mean creating a rule to implement a law from or from a regulatory agency like the environmental protection agency it will take years and so he's just going to slow walk it and not do anything on it some entities environmental groups or states can sued to try and prod the top administration to move faster but that litigation will take years so where some are solutions the paris agreement where pulled out. some states you mentioned state states and cities are actually coming up with their own solutions tell us some of those you're absolutely right and so what you're seeing is more than a th

the e.p.a., melts in your mouth, not your hands. fema, stay thirsty, my friends. it works. no? inning back the working class, which went as well as you might expect. >> we're here today because the economy is broken. two giant corporations fell more than 70% of all of the beer in america. >> we are seeing this lack of competition all across our economy, whether it is prescription drugs, whether it is cable bills, whether it is even beer. >> trevor: or even beer? that's a solid strategy for the democrats. we need to connect with the people who don't vote for us! these hill folk like beer, right? yeah! we could hire a banjo player, whoo! what if we drove in in a monster truck? wow! ( laughter ) that's not fair. democrats have been making a real effort to understand the other side. >> last month, i went to a yankees game and sat where i usually do in the right field grandstand. the two people sitting next to me were wearing proud to be deplorable t-shirts. they were teamsters from yonkers. we talked the whole game. they weren't really sure of donald trump. they didn't know what he

we need to work with the e.p.a. in trying to address this issue because it is a lot broader than most people think. so i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. pursuant to the order of the house of today, it is now in order to consider amendment number 35 printed in house report 115-259. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. peck: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 35 printed in house report 115-259, offered by mr. heck of washington. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 473, the gentleman from washington, mr. heck, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. heck: thank you, mr. chairman. my amendment is about tackling a problem that affects every single one of us

s which the e.p.a. defines as quote a class of manmade chemicals that are not found naturally in the environment now these are widely used in stain resistant water resistant and nonstick products however in the case of puget sound these chemicals are mainly coming from firefighting foam that's used in naval training exercises that there has been contamination found in private and public drinking wells near cooper bill's navy landing field as well as near the naval air station on we'd be it's unclear whether anybody on the island is sick and that's because these chemicals can remain in the body for over a decade and in addition to that the c.d.c.'s agency for toxic substances says that there isn't enough data to evaluate p.f.a. s exposure on humans however it has found that quote laboratory animals exposed to high doses have shown changes to the liver thyroid pancreas and hormones it also says exposure to some of these chemicals may have affected a developing fetus cause possible changes in growth learnin

denies entirely or made in a civil lawsuit and the e.p.a. has yet to comment on them but the lawyer that filed it reached eleven point three billion dollars in class action settlements against b.w. and he said he has every intention of making this a class action lawsuit as well so it turns out that lying to regulators about emissions isn't a concept unique to volkswagen. and i'm guessing as you may well be guessing too that the investigators thought the same thing when they talked about volkswagen to begin with what you know what the inspiration to doing this for a for putting these defeat devices in is it that difficult to make an energy efficient engine what's the catch here why you guys doing that so if you look at the reason u.s. prosecutors allege they created this defeat device was because the engineers were having a very difficult time figuring out how to stay within the limits of regulations without having to add new technology and they were afraid that that new technology would affect other systems in the car like the audio system th

if you were a very, very, very conservative person on policy matters and you looked at the e.p.a. and the justice the reasons this "wall street journal" article suggests, there's stuff happening in nose areas in if you're anere environmental conservative, want todenier, if you return to a law-and-order, pre-obama, bush, clinton, reagan, back to a nixon-style law-and-order approach, you would say things are happening in those areas so some constituency say the ball's moving forward. charlie: mark, you've said two things. you've said in this conversation a hugeis election was event in terms of the flow of american history looking at the second world war and other things that have had huge significance to most americans. you've also said at this table that donald trump is probably as politician as you have seen in american politics with the exception of bill clinton. still believe both of those things? mark: in the context of being a the white he won house having never run for anything before and making lots somehow of mistakes and still won. he won for other things, including weaknes

we shouldn't be cutting back the e.p.a., which provides funding and technical expertise to clean up thee should be increasing that. >> reporter: still the cleaner waters have lured back the fish that whales like patchy feast on. >> patchy is a whale we saw last year. this whale very distinctive because it has a patch on its left side of his cheek. >> reporter: he said patchy also has a distinct injured dorsal fin that was probably knocked off by a boat in the shipping area. >> the problem is these whales are pretty much playing in traffic. so as human activity and whales come together, there are concerns. >> including close encounters. a whale recently breached a fishing boat, nearly capsizing it. >> did you see that! >> there are still obstacles to navigate given humpbacks were on endangered species list just years ago. >> if you're seeing humpback whales swim in the waters of new york city, it's cool to see here and it as something where you say the rest of the country might be heading in the right direction with pollution as well. >> that's the hope, that this is an indication not ju

that's more people than are currently working at the e.p.a.! ( laughter ) who was the sixth person? we don't know. i'm guessing the guy who had to keep bringing chairs into the conference room. now, no one's saying there were seven people in the meeting because, turns out, there were at least eight people in the room. eight! and that's not even counting the other russians that are nested inside of them! ( laughter ) ( applause ) don, jr.'s defense this entire time has been that he wanted to collude with russia but got nothing. therefore, innocent? but you know who doesn't remember it that way? ( laughter ) rinat akhmyetshin. ♪ ( cheers and applause ) he claims that natalia, the russian lawyer, gave don "a plastic folder with printed-out documents that detailed what she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the democrats." okay, they never met with russians, but turns out they did. but all they talked about was adoption, but it turns out they talked about colluding, but the one russian didn't give them any documents, but it turns she did and it wasn't one russian, it was five. th

this doesn't apply to the i.r.s., doesn't apply to the e.p.a. this is only saying that the military should be cut as a result of some concept of fiscal savings. but the savings that we've taken have damaged our military already. the air force vice chief of staff testified in february of this month, quote, we have become one of the smallest, oldest equipped and least ready forces across the full spectrum of operations in our service history. the entire history of the air force. in 1991 we went to desert storm, our air force was 500,000 people. and 134 fighter squadrons. today we find ourselves at 317 total -- 317 in our active force with 55 fighter squadrons. the navy is the same. it's the smallest since world war ii. deployments continue to increase and training and maintenance periods have been shortened, eliminated or deferred. the number of marine corps infantry battalions hand been reduced by four since 2010, going from 28 to 24. admiral moore and the vice chief of naval operations has also indicated the navy aircraft, 60% are unable to opera

we see clean energy regulations by the e.p.a. and so forth. y that president obama's legacy is still unwritten because we don't know how it is going to wind up. >> was it too early to write the book then? >> no, it is never too early to write a book. this is a book that captures the eight years of president obama's tenure both through pictures and texts. it is a coffee table book with about 200 photographs from our crack photography staff. it is also a mediocre text by one of the writers. >> ok, but i want to get to this question. what we have come to under about president obama and why it is really different. that is really something that you have -- you have covered president clinton, bush and obama. that is a lot. one of the things we are debating is how much is president trump really unique, really an outlier, really doing something different with the american presidency versus being in the chain, perhaps a surprising new element in that chain, but basically within the frame of the modern presidency? >> well, i think prucha is very differen

morale is important in the e.p.a. it's important in the state department, every place else, but it's very important for people who are taking those risks. >> sure. >> ultimately at the end of the day, a president can only make good decisions if he has good information and cares about that information. you know, trump is undercutting that whole premise, and that could lead us into even deeper and darker trouble. >> evan, you get the last word of this segment, and also is any of this going to potentially change based on the results of bob mueller's investigation? >> look, i would say this. what david corn just said is correct, but i think the issue that i'm very concerned about is not what the rank and file think or feel with regard to morale. that's an issue, but it's really about how this administration is going to direct law enforcement and counterintelligence resources. recent reporting has indicated that the russians have stepped up espionage activities even since the election. so forget about morale for a second. w