The speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 224 and the nays are 194. The current resolution is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the Unfinished Business is the vote on the motion of the the gentlewoman from new york, ms. Velazquez, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 5078 as amended. On which the the yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will report the title. The clerk h. R. 5078, a bill toll amend the Small Business act to provide reentry counseling and Training Services for incarcerated persons and now other purposes. The speaker pro tempore will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 370, the nays are 41. 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended. The bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. The clerk h. R. 2467 a bill to amend the Homeland Security of 2002 to provide security from terrorist attacks and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. Will members and staff please stake their conversations off the floor. He house will be in order. Please take your conversations ff the floor. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. Members and staff, please take your conversations off the floor. For what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey mr. Pallone madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on h. R. 535. The speaker pro tempore without objection. House resolution 779 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h. R. 535. The chair appoints the gentleman from michigan, mr. Kildee, to preside over the committee of the whole. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h. R. 535, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to require the administrator of the Environmental Protection agency to designate per substances as Hazardous Substances under the exre helpsive environmental comprehensive Environmental Response compensation and Liability Act of 1980. The chair pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. General debate shall be confined to the bill and amendments specified in House Resolution 779. And shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. The gentleman from new jersey, mr. Pallone, and the gentleman from illinois, mr. Shimkus, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Chairman. I recognize myself for such time as i may consume. The house is not in order. The chair the house will be in order. Members will take their conversations off the floor. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Chairman, i should say. H. R. 535, the pfas action act of 2019, is a comprehensive package of strategies to regulate pfas chemicals, cleanup contamination, and protect Public Health. Pfas are an urgent threat to Public Health. Theyre toxic, persistent and being found in the environment across the country. These forever chemicals have long been linked with Adverse Health effects, including cancer, immune system effects, infertility, impaired child development, high cholesterol and thyroid disease. Mr. Chairman, the e. P. A. Has known about these risks for decades and has allowed this contamination to spread. Last year e. P. A. Announced its pfas action plan. It was woefully inadequate and since that time weve learned that e. P. A. Is not even keeping the weak commitments it made in that plan. The e. P. A. Failed to meet key end of the year 2019 deadlines. It failed to produce a regulatory determination in Drinking Water, and it failed to produce hazard determinations for chemicals under superfund and it failed to initiate reporting under the toxic release inventory. The Trump Administration is failing hundreds of impacted communities and Congress Must act for communities like those in new york, michigan, West Virginia and far too many more. We need to act on behalf of new jersey, y own, that are doing everything they can. Adopting protective state Drinking Water standards, pursuing damage resource cases, but facing strong opposition from federal agencies under the Trump Administration. There have been over 500 dedirections de 500 detections of pfas in Drinking Water and ground water sources in new jersey. This is simply the chair the gentleman will suspend. He house will be in order. Members are advised to take their conversations off the floor. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone this is simply unacceptable. Its time for congress to take action and use every tool available to stop the flow of pfas pollution into our environment and our bodies. And thats exactly what the pfas action act does. This bill requires e. P. A. To immediately designate two pfas chemicals as Hazardous Substances under superfund. The two most studies of the pfas chemicals. And e. P. A. Is committed to make this designation in their action plan last year, but has failed to fulfill that promise. The legislation requires that over a fiveyear period, e. P. A. Review all other pfas chemicals and decide whether to lift them under superfund. During that five years, the bill will require comprehensive Health Testing of all pfas chemicals. This is a really important point. You may hear my colleagues talk today about the need to base decisions on science. And this bill will generate that science. The two chemicals will be regulated up front because we already have the science on them and other pfas will be regulated if over the next five years the science concludes that theyre hazardous. The bill also includes a moratorium on any new pfas during that same fiveyear period. This will provide e. P. A. The time it needs to ensure it has enough science to really evaluate new pfas. H. R. 535 also requires the Drinking Water standard that will cover at least the two chemicals and others at e. P. A. s discretion. Importantly, the Drinking Water standard will have to protect Public Health. Including the health of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, infants and children. And because treating Drinking Water to remove pfas is expensive, the bill includes grants for Water Utilities. Mr. Chairman, this bill includes a voluntary pfasfree label for cookwear which may be expanded cookware, which may be expanded through amendments, to include Consumer Products. This label will emPower Consumers to take steps to protect themselves from exposure to pfas. And the bill requires guidance for First Responders to help them minimize their exposure to pfas chemicals. This is important because pfas is commonly found in Fire Fighting foams. Taken together, this is a serious comprehensive and reasonable bill that should garner strong bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I want to particularly thank chairman tonko for all that he did to put together this package, and of course the sponsor of the package, mrs. Dingell from michigan, whose face so many who has faced so many problems in your home state. Mr. Chairman, where mrs. Dingell is also, you know, so much involved. And the bill includes a number of pieces of legislation before our committee by members of the energy and Commerce Committee, as well as other members of this body. With that, i reserve the balance f my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Shim the chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Chairman. Many members have worked hard to understand and address the issues related to per and polyfluoroanated compounds. While i oppose this for policy reasons, i commend all my colleagues who have been engaged on this issue. Before i go into some of the more concerning aspects of this legislation, i think its instruct to have highlight a few facts instructive to highlight a few facts. Pfas is not just one or two chemicals. According to the e. P. A. , this classic chemical class of chemicals includes more than 5,000 different substances, with different properties, applications and risk. In fact, e. P. A. s master list of as on its website includes deriviations. E. P. A. Recently announced scientifically valid methods to that means youre able to test to determine what it is, of just 29 of these 7,866. We dont have the capability to even understand if its present, because we dont have the capability to even identify them. E. P. A. Is actively engaged in a pfas Action Program involving many disciplines across the agency. I recently talked to the administrator to urge him to move as quickly as possible with multiple action items and timelines. Now enter this bill, h. R. 535. This legislation requires aggressive regulatory responses to this diverse class of manmade chemicals without regard to science or risk. This is an unprecedented way of conducting science and flies in the face of decades of u. S. Environmental policy. In fact, we have never legislatively banned a chemical in all the years since the superfund back in 1980. To my colleagues who love to preach science on climate change, i hear you. But you cannot walk away from the science debate when it doesnt support your policy position. Let me say that again. For my Democrat Friends who love to preach science, you cant walk away from the science debate on this substance and walk away from the fact that we need a Scientific Study of this. But you got theyre trying to have it both ways. I know many of my democrat colleagues think this bill is essential because they dont trust the e. P. A. , run by this president. I understand thats your call. But i would also ask you to think about the mandates youre placing on the Environmental Protection agency, which will far outlast this administration. They will legally hamstring future ones from facing issues other than pfas, whether its lead or climate. I mentioned the sciencebased decisions that have supported e. P. A. s work for years are being jettisoned, but that is just one feature. The more long range trouble includes the automatic designation of pfas pfos, and pfoa as Hazardous Substances under the superfund which is kuhled the comprehensive Environmental Response ompensatory Liability Act, cercla. This may be warranted under the bill. It would become without knowledge who have is responsible. Where a pfas contamination is and how serious it is without any Public Comment. In fact, my colleagues think putting in the superfund is going to solve this problem. Theyre going to be able to clean it up right away. I have a list here of superfund sites. Superfund fund was set up in 1980. We have a site here thats still a superfund site back to 1983. So those of you who think putting the superfund, its going to be all cleaned up, good luck. If youve dealt with this issue, its not going to happen probably in your lifetime. And dont get me started on the rverse joint and several retroactively liability to releases of Hazardous Substances. A trial lawyers bonanza. We know the majority understands this is an issue because the rule executed provisions relievinging airports of superfund liability. Plus, the bill requires e. P. A. Fiveview all 7,864 pfas in years to determine without Public Comment whether they present a substantial damage. We cant do 29 in 20 years. W are we going to do 7,866 chemicals in five years . Just cant be done. While a superfund designation for just pfos and pfoa may seem reasonable, the reality is that section 15 of h. R. 535 deems all pfas and hazardous air pollutants under the clean air act, section 112b this automatically makes the entire pfas class Hazardous Substances under the superfund law. As i mentioned, innocent parties like Drinking Water utilities that just treated what they got from their source water are hostage to endless liability for cleaning up cleanup, regardless of their personal contribution. I would argue they didnt do any contribution. Why not exclude the water districts from superfund liability . If they are just the passthrough. But no, were taking care of the airports, but were not talking about were not protecting municipal Water Systems, coop Water Systems and other sources of Drinking Water. And were going to put additional mandates and cost on them. I know communities with pfas pollution want it cleaned up quickly but nothing as i said before with ceclaa is fast. Its always more expensive than you think and the stigma of the designation scars the economy and dampens its future prospect. Other significant problems with this legislation include section 4 which places a commercial moratorium on new pfas chemicals for five years. Even though federal law already prevents any unsafe chemical from entering the market until e. P. A. Scientifically reviews it and determines its safety. Delays. This delays cleaner, greener and safer chemicals from the market. Let me repeat this. Existing law bans and bars any new indemnify cal or new use of an existing chemical from going to the market unless e. P. A. Signs off on that and it meets a tough safety standard. This bill places an arbitrary ban on top of that review. Next generation heart valves, car brakes, solar panels, military equipment all will be stopped from coming to the market because of this. Section 3 creates an unrealistic mandate on e. P. A. To require all manufacturers and processer testing of pfas. This requirement overlaps one that companies send all their existing pfas information to the e. P. A. By 2023. Regardless, why even bother doing real science when youve already made a decision based on Political Science . More practically, does e. P. A. Even have the resources to keep up with such a demand . These are not minor concerns. Sparked opposition in the senate and why these items were not included in the National Defense authorization act. If this process is making good law, i would urge my colleagues to keep that in mind. We can do better and i yield my time to mr. Walden. Mr. Walden i want to thank mr. Shimkus who has put his heart and soul in this issue and worked very hard and he is spot on. Tragically, there is no science here. The e. P. A. Was not allowed to testify here. This is a solution that will never become law and completely over reaches and you will hear from our members including a heart surgeon about the impact this could have on new technologies and devices that get implanted in peoples heart and automobiles that use these chemicals and materials in their Manufacturing Processes that have nothing with what we are trying to fix here. You will hear and this is true this is the first time we are going to throw science out the window and make a political decision. I must rise in opposition to the pfas action act and i urge my colleagues to do the same. We want a solution to the pfas challenges and while there is more work to be done and i would say, congress has already acted to provide some funding for reducing pfas in Drinking Water. We require the federal government to enter into agreements with federal facilities with pfas con tame nation. And more needs to be done. Unfortunately, my friends on the other side of the aisle have chosen to go partisan and thats not the way to go or the solution. This follows two plays democrats running, putting politics over progress and pushing legislation that will never become law. This was the playbook they ran in december when they ran away from progress that resulted in two major missed opportunities. First, we had the chance to mandate that the e. P. A. Tablish a Drinking Water standard. Wed the opportunity to get that into law. Could have a mandatory of pfos and pfoa. We could have put that into law. We were in agreement except for democrats here and as a result, they wouldnt take yes as an answer. Back to h. R. 3535. This is packed with bad policy or unfortunately or fortunately is dead on arriving in the senate. This is science based solutions. It hurts ame