Power plan is it is going to make for a healthier environment. There are many people now who suffer from dirty air and pollution, particularly those that have asthma. They are negatively impacted in terms of their health. I really would like to stress that more than anything else. In other words by cutting back on carbon dioxide, i should say, c02, you are cleaning the air. In a place like new jersey which not only has admissions from its own plants but i is also down when from states like ohio with a have a lot of coal power plants. We would benefit because there would be a 32 reduction based on 2005 standards in co2 emissions by 2030. More than anything else, i know the Climate Change aspect is very important, but i really want to stress the a health the the health impact. Host what you make of the reaction from her publicans to try to allow states to opt out . Frank pallone as you know the republicans had legislation before it went to the florida basically obliterates the rule because it says the states cannot opt out and the governors , can basically decide that they are not going to follow the law. I think it is very unfortunate, not only because they are basically getting rid of the president s program, but the president s Program Provides for a lot of flexibility. I think it was announced on monday that they can provide a plan each state can provide a plan by 2018, but it does not actually have to be finalized until 2018. They are given more time. The state pretty much has the flexibility of how to go about this. I dont know what more could be done to make it easier for states to meet the goals. If you are just going to say well, we are not going to meet the goals because we dont care about cleaning the air, then maybe that is what the republicans are thinking. But i dont think that is acceptable to the american people, because they needed to worry about their own health as well as the impact on Climate Change. Host but will they be successful, republicans . Rep. Pallone no, i dont believe so. Anytime there has been an effort in this congress to pass legislation that basically waters down or gets rid of one of president obamas administrations and environmental initiatives, there have never been enough votes either it hasnt moved in the senate if it passed the house, or it would ultimately be vetoed and there would not be enough votes to sustain the the to. I mean there would be enough votes to sustain the veto. Congressman, at the same time this fight is happening you and republicans are working pretty closely on a Bipartisan Energy bill that is moving through the energy committee. What gives you confidence that this bipartisanship will be able to hold, especially given that your party has so often slammed the gop for being too close to fossil fuel interests . Frank pallone we have to be honest with the republicans and with ourselves. When we find that there are areas of agreement, we move in that direction. When there isnt, because the republicans are just trying to make some kind of message vehicle, then we cant move ahead. We have been pretty successful so far, and the last six months, since i became the ranking member, in actually moving bipartisan legislation. Even with regard to the environment. The reform of the chemicals in the environment and regulating of chemicals in the marketplace or the workplace thats a bill that has been around, or an effort to real threat that has been around for over a dozen years. We actually passed legislation unanimously in the committee on the suspension calendar in the house where you need a two thirds majority. Now the senate is moving on to the same thing. We do have that as an example of where we can move environmental regulation on a bipartisan basis. So with regards to the energy package, we basically started out at the beginning of the year knowing that the Republican Leadership on the Committee Wanted to deal with Energy Efficiency, wanted to do some kind of Energy Infrastructure initiative, so we are trying to put that together. We did a very minimalist bill that came out of subcommittee in july. We vowed that we would spend august and the early part of september during the recess trying to come up with a more robust bill that addresses Energy Efficiency and infrastructure. When we come back, after labor day, we will try to move that into full committee. The idea is it has to be something that we all agree on. But there is no question that the republicans on our Committee Want to do an Energy Infrastructure and efficiency bill. I think we can come together with something that is pretty good. Once this vote gets to the floor, congressman, are you confident that these republicans on your committee can prevent the far right wing of the conference from turning it into what you call earlier, a message bill . Trying to permit offshore drilling, and other divisive issues . Frank pallone im confident. I heard that with toxa reform and it passed on commission. I heard that with some of the centuryves, like 20th tears that it was going to be , obliterated on the floor. There was an effort on the floor to take out the funding, the mandatory funding, but that failed and then the bill passed with i think almost 350 votes. Most of the republican voted for it. I am confident that if the committee can vote out a bill that is bipartisan, that the same thing will happen on the floor. It will attract votes from both sides of the aisle. Thank you. Another subject that is sure to divide democrats and republican, at least in terms of linking it to government funding, is planned parenthood. With videos that have been released, and the controversy over whether they have been edited, whether they are accurate reflections of what planned parenthood actually does in regards to the Abortion Services and provides. Your committee is about to start at least at the subCommittee Level, and probably the full Committee Level hearings an , investigation into what is going on at the planned Parenthood Service providers. Can you talk about what democrats will be in those investigations and what you anticipate coming out of the committee . Are we talking hearings . Do you think there will be legislation . Frank pallone i dont think so. I know there is an investigation initiated by the republicans. I dont actually know if there will be hearings. But i think the reality is, i believe that most people that there is a majority in the house that really believe that planned parenthood has a very positive function in providing for womens health. Whether or not these videos are legitimate or not, in any case, you are dealing with they are not getting to the heart of the matter, which is that planned parenthood basically provides Health Care Services for women that are important and that no one else is going to provide. I think that ultimately the majority in the house recognizes that, and the issue of defunding them is not going to happen. It will blow over. To shift back to the chemical safety bill you are talking about, the Toxic Substances Control Act revisions that are successfully moving to the house, the senate has taken a pretty expansive approach. A much wider bill that majority leader mcconnell says he wants to pick up as soon as next month. How confident are you that you can bridge these differences with the senate, and would you become trouble accepting a broader bill closer to what the senate has going . Frank pallone we understood from the beginning that we were narrowly focusing the bill. I dont want to stress that too much because i think we passed was very significant. But i know that the senate is taking a broader approach. I think if they do that and ultimately the bill is broader when it gets passed in the senate, there is no real problem in going to conference, or pingponging it or whatever, to come up with a bill we can all agree on. The impetus for this was originally in the senate with senator lautenberg who is from new jersey and worked long and hard on this. I believe that i dont think theres going to be much of a bridge. If they can take an issue that we did not, and there is bipartisan support in the senate, i think we can get that same support in the house. You mentioned that this is something the late senator lautenberg worked very hard on. It was a longterm project of his goal is something that he wanted to see as his legacy, certainly as a fellow new jersey resident and someone from the delegation who worked closely with him. How meaningful is it for you to sort of finish what he started . How much of it is a part of your legacy as the top democrat on this committee to sort of fulfill this for your late colleague . Frank pallone its very important to me. As you know the bill and senate , is named after him. We have an agreement that the final bill will have his name. The house version did not but the final version will. We have all agreed on that. That is an important part of getting this done. To shift gears with a question about your colleague, congressman upton. I am curious to know how would you assess his record at as chairman and how he has been to work with . How will people remember him . Frank pallone hes fantastic. He said from the very beginning he was focusing on legislation that could be passed bipartisan, because his whole focus was to pass bills that could be passed in the senate and signed by the president. He has stuck to that. He started out with the reimbursement rate on medicare for physicians. That also included extension of the Children Health initiative and communitybased health centers. Those are so important to me, and i think for most americans. Ever since we worked together on that on a bipartisan basis, Everything Else has followed. The dot com act. Now we are working together on this Energy Infrastructure and efficiency package. We are working towards a Mental Health package that will be bipartisan. Im sure you know that the Senate Committee passed that. We are really working together well. Believe me, a lot of that has to do with fred being the type of person who not only wants to work with us but has the capability. It is not just a question of passing a bill out of committee or passing a bill in the house, it is passing a bill that goes to the president and get signed into law. We spent a significant amount of time in july going over the senate and meeting with Senate Leaders on some of these bills. They still need to pass the senate. Congressman there are going , to be plenty of republicans on the energy and Commerce Committee who would like to fred upton as chairman of the committee. Not to ask you to guess or to handicap which congressman might ultimately get that chairmanship, but can you think about some republicans on the committee who you would like to work with, you work well with, who you think would be good to carry on chairman uptons legacy as someone who can work across the aisle . Frank pallone i am certainly not going to speculate on who the next chairman is going to be. Obviously on some of the legislation that i have mentioned to you there are some key people who played a major role on the toxa reform. He is obvious he very easy to work with on a bipartisan basis. Some of the other subcommittees chairs that we have worked with, ofiously we dont pass any these bills in subcommittee without the chairman of the subcommittee playing a major role in being bipartisan. We have had a great rapport with all the subcommittee chairs, and i imagine one of them is ultimately going to be the chairman of the full committee. What about congressman greg walden . Frank pallone absolutely. Greg walden worked with us on the dot com act, which was bipartisan. I know that he is the chairman of the Republican Campaign committee. Greg has also been great in terms of working on a bipartisan basis so sure. , i dont want to not mention him. He has been great. And i think would be. Thank you. Switch gears for a moment and talk about governor christie who took a lot of heat in the press for agreeing on a settlement on pollution and contamination at several sites in new jersey for cents on the dollar. Several new jersey democrats have including yourself have been critical of this, but it appears it will go through. Do you have any thoughts on his candidacy for president s . His candidacy for president . Whether theres anything democrats can do to raise awareness of how small this settlement is . Frank pallone i think we have done a good job of raising awareness and some of the citizens groups have actually sued the state over the paucity of the settlement. It is just unfortunate. What i have seen over and over again with governor christie is he sacrifices what should be done in new jersey, whether it is on the environment or jobs in , in order to appeal to the right wing that he is trying to get the support of to run for president. The exxon settlement is the perfect example of that. One,her words no believe me, no one imagined over the last 10 years or so that we would ever get a level of settlement that governor christie announced. Its just not enough to clean up the site. Not only the initial site, other things around the state that are appendages to that. I think the feeling within the environmental community, and within the legislature is up there just is not enough money to do the actual cleanup. Exxon has huge profits. Makes billions of dollars. The least they could do is clean up the mess they created in new and to spend more than what has been proposed. Again, what we see over and over again with the governor is this effort is to take a position that appeals to the right wing. On monday, the very day that the president announced a Clean Power Plan was the day that governor christie officially took new jersey out of the regional Greenhouse Gas initiative. If you look at the way that new jersey would over the next few years to put together a plan to meet the clean power goals that president obama announced on monday, the easiest way to do that would be to be part of a regional agreement. Something that is essentially a cap and trade agreement. The state from the northeast that are part of that have all benefited in terms of reducing emissions and making money off the sales of the credits. My recollection was that the governor was not opposed to it but he was first elected, he decided what he was running for president that it was not a good thing. I think it is sad that the very first day that the Clean Power Plan was announced that he formally withdrew new jersey from this regional Greenhouse Gas initiative. Do you think that Republican Voters will remember the splits and recognize it and punish him for it at the polls . Frank pallone he cant run again for governor in new jersey, so he is a focusing on appealing on the president ial polls. I assume that he is just opposed to any environmental regulation. I assume that is who he is trying to appeal the right wing opposed to any environmental regulation. I assume that is who he is trying to appeal to. Congressman, shifting gears yet again, there is another big issue on everybodys mind, something that congress is going to have to turn to immediately after the august recess in september, and that is the Nuclear Agreement with iran. Have you made a decision yet whether you will be supporting it or not . And can you talk a little bit about what is going through your mind and whether you think democrats will ultimately be able to sustain what looks likely to be Republican Opposition leading to a president ial veto . Frank pallone everyone has to make an individual decision on whether they are going to support this agreement or not based on a real thorough analysis of this agreement and the alternatives. That is basically what i have been doing. We will probably vote on the iran agreement may be as early as the week we come back. I think the 60 day term for congresses review expires maybe a day or two after labor day. I have been taking some time, since we have the five weeks or so, to listen and research and hear different views. I am pretty much home the whole five weeks, and i pretty much every day i get different views. , that is what im going to do. I have not made a decision yet. The republicans announced that i imagine they will have a the votes to pass a resolution of disapproval. This because they are in the majority. Many of them will vote for a resolution of disapproval. I would assume that there would not be enough votes that the president would then veto the resolution of disapproval and there would be enough votes to sustain his veto. But again, that is all speculation on my part. Im just focusing on how i would vote and just listening to as many people as possible. Host congressman, are you hearing from Interest Groups who both oppose and support it . Frank pallone the administration, as you know, has been really reaching out and having all kinds of meetings. Those were mainly on capitol hill when we were in session. Most of what im hearing now from my own constituents or the constituent groups that that they represent. Like a pack for example. Host we have about three minutes left. To go back to the energy bill that is moving through your committee, you mentioned that there is going to be an effort to craft more robust efficiency language. Frank pallone that is already happening. Some democrats want to see more attention to Climate Change. For that matter, some Senate Democrats are trying to bolster their own. Do you think that is possible given republicans resistant to really talk about climate as an issue . Frank pallone it is unfortunate that the republicans will not talk about the issue of Climate Change. I guess from my perspective, what i would like to see is that in whatever bill we finally put together, which again is focusing on infrastructure and efficiency, that it will have some positive impact on Climate Change. But i think you are right when you say that we cant talk about it. In other words, the energy bill and package probably will have a positive impact on Climate Change. But it wont be part of the discussion in the sense that we will be discussing it. As an initiative that focuses on Climate Change. For instance in the senate you are seeing republicans are facing, this is our climate plan. We will cut emissions even to a small extent with this bill. Are you at all worried that if you go stronger on efficiency without really addressing climate republicans will say look, we have a climate plan. It is this build it is this bill that does not really deal with climate just because it cut emissions to a small extent. Frank pallone i dont really care what people call things to be honest. If we can come up with a bill that creates Energy Efficiency or that leads to use of more renewables as opposed to fossil fuel, and it has a positive impact on Climate Change, i will be perfectly happy with that without actually having to articulate that it colleges a congresses that. If someone on the republican side wants to say that it does accomplish that thats fine. , but i think it is more a question of what we do than what we say. Host let me squeeze in a healthcare question. What is your prediction for cost with health care and what impact does that have or folks that are on exchanges or get their employerbased insurance . Frank pallone i dont think theres any question that the Affordable Care act, or obamacare if you want to call it that, has been reducing any cost increase. In other words, clearly one of the goals was and i never say it is going to reduce costs. I think i can fairly say that it has really cut back on increased costs. Increased healthcare inflation, a few years ago before the Affordable Care act was double digit. Now it is singledigit. That is how you have to look at it. We clearly are bending the curve so that even though costs may go up, they are not going up as much. If we can continue to do that while we are bending the curve in a way that reduces that keeps cost increase at a minimum, i think we have a accomplished a great deal compared to where we were five or 20 years ago when we had doubledigit inflation with health care, much higher than inflation in the economy in general. Host congressman Frank Pallone , democrat of new jersey, the top democrat on the house energy and Commerce Committee. Thank you for being this weeks newsmaker. Host now let me turn to both of you and we will begin with Climate Change which the president announced on monday, this new epa rule. You heard from the congressman, he thinks there are not enough votes to veto. That republicans opposition to this do not go anywhere. What are republicans saying . Republicans have already moved legislation that would move in multiple avenues, halt, block, slow these regulations. They are probably going to make a big pr show when we get back from recess. The senate has just advanced its version to the floor but i think he is correct, they dont have the votes to sustain a veto. Host and what is the plan for planned parenthood . Another big vote that could be coming this fall when lawmakers return. Senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, republican from kentucky, just had a News Conference on capitol hill on thursday basically reiterating what he said earlier in the week, which is there is not going to be a government shutdown. Planned parenthood is not going to be defunded in any continuing resolution. If it means a government shutdown, which it would democrats are going to , agree with that. The president isnt going to sign a bill that contains a kind of language. What senator mcconnell and others have not been really able to articulate is how you avoid the backlash from that august recess as the perfect opportunity for conservative lawmakers to hear from constituents that they dont want a government funding bills that dont include language rolling back planned parenthood federal funding. That is going to be ammunition for them when they come back and start asking for concessions. Its true that Republican Leadership does not want to go down the shutdown road again, as in 2013, but there is still not an endgame in how you get beyond the needs the wants and desires and political needs of many of their members. Host their entire house rank, the republican rankandfile is on board with them. The leadership does not want to do it but not the entire republican rankandfile. House republicans appropriators have a realistic expectation of what can and cant be accomplished. They are very protective of defending bills. All of the work that they have been doing crafting legislation to find various agencies and operations within the federal government they dont want that , to go to the wayside over a political battle. There are others who agree that planned parenthood is not it is not appropriate to have that fight even if that fight should be had, even if that investigation should be underway. Not in a continuing resolution or government funding bill. Its how you mute the sound and the fury from 50, 60, 70 members in the House Republican conference is really what is at stake. Host and let me ask you about the bipartisan legislation. He is working across the aisle. The republican chairman, fred upton, is working with him on that . Its a very narrow piece of work. What it would not do is address Climate Change in a significant fashion, but i thought that it was interesting that the congressman is fine with Climate Emissions cuts from this bill. It is likely, especially if they can strengthen those portions of the legislation,