In his physical eternal rest, jennifer said then, do you see that smile on his face . My husband is going to heaven hes already gone, and with that she had peace. So i hope that we have peace and we continue this, and make sure that we keep these doors open and keep this family wrapped around with us. Thank you. I hope that we welcome jennifer to the senate and give us a moment and we can be at ease and we can all go and greet her. The senate will stand at ease. So the South Carolina senate has voted to remove the Confederate Flag, and it was 36 yeas to 3. They are greeting the widow of senator pinckney gunned down a few weeks ago in a shooting that took place in South Carolina. The Associated Press is reporting that the bill that was just voted on faces a less certain future in the South Carolina house. Republicans met behind closed doors on monday and struggled to reach a consensus on what to do next. The senate bill would remove the Confederate Flag in front of the state house on the flagpole as soon as the governor removes it. The suspect was photographed several times with the Confederate Flag. Senate please come to order. Senator scott recognized. Mr. President and members of the senate, we are saddened by the loss of one of our senate members, senator clemente opinion pinckney but at the same time one of our lobbyist friends lost her sister patty pierce lost her sister, and if the clerk would please read. Please read the resolution. Expressioned the profound sorry of the South Carolina senate for the death of leslie an pierce of columbia and extend the deepest sympathy and many of her friends and the senate was saddened to learn of the untimely death of leslie pierce that passed away on june 28th 2015, as the age of 49 and born on december 24th 1965, leslie was the daughter of the late george amos jr. , and we are asked despite having suffered a car crash, she led a productive life. She was an accomplished artist and helped make columbia and its arts museum a welcoming place for so many to enjoy art and music. Her courageous attitude and positive outlook were an inspiration to all who knew her, and she had a gift to make each person around her feel special, and she welcomed them with a smile and generous attitude and never met a stranger and was bound and determined to find a connection with each person she met. She looked for ways to create opportunities for others to share their talents and love kau colab rating, and she was a lady that loved life and lived it to the fullest and she paw possessed a cando at taod and she will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of working with her. And extend the deepest sympathy to her family and many friends. Mr. Scott . Mr. President , members of the senate, and to the pierce family especially to you, patty, we are going to miss her, and even during the budget cycle this year, leslie was right there fighting for the Columbia Museum of art. She loved art. She loved columbia. We are going to truly miss her, and tell your family, we will keep you in prayers as you get through the very difficult times. I move we add the roll of the senate. Its unanimously adopted. Senator from spartanburg. I would like to ask consents one that the words of the senators, the last three speakers would be printed in the journal. I have a special guests that will be here today, and this one is my oldest grand daughter and its ironic that she is here today, and because of the discussion we have had since the remarks yesterday, you will understand that she starts middle school next week, but she asked me all last week on vacation papa, can i come and watch the debate on the flag so she is here today and she is a straight a student, but her name is ainsly grace allen. I ask you to welcome haar to the South Carolina senate. Thank you. Welcome, and we hope you will come back and see us. Senator from florence. While he is coming forward the senator from pickins. While the senator from tphraur florence is coming forward, i want to pass out an article and make a brief comment about it. A lot was said yesterday about Race Relations, and of course as you know i am married to a teacher, and my youngest daughter, a senator from lexington is going to be a firstyear teacher this fall, and this article was in the state newspaper yesterday on the opinion page and it caught my attention because this lady is a retired teacher from ac high school, and i would commend it to you, and she talks sincerely about Race Relations as she found it at acflora high school and when you have a minute look at her remarks, a brief article but telling in support of the improvement we have seen and how she saw it much to her surprise in a positive way here in South Carolina. Yes, sir. Senator from richland, proceed. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to do this. I will try to be brief on this. I talk about the article and i think its appropriate to make a few comments about thurman. Many of you asked me what did i think about paul thurman, and i guess its because of my relationship with his late father, and i didnt know thurman, and i got a Ronald Reagan wall, and i got a thurman wall and i got a picture of him when he was 5 years old, Walking Around the capitol lawn in washington x i was honored to do this and i got involved with him in 1964 when i was sitting at the Fraternity House at usc, and he was going to support Barry Goldwater for president , and he was going to switch Political Parties and become a republican, and in 1964 there was not a single political party, and he had no infrastructure at all, and i said, this guy has got guts, and guts mean something. So i got involved with him and started climbing telephone poles and putting stickers up, and in 1984 he was a state chairman and then he asked me to be chairman of his campaign, and he was a tight individual, and he could get eight pennies out of a nickel. But i didnt really know paul at all and my relationship was with his father, and i never was paid anything for my campaign work, and i just had tremendous admiration for what he did, not just being a conservative but the guys had guts, and he had 82 casual ratio a moving experience, and paul thurman ran for the senate and was elected and i didnt know him, and his brother was a page for me for a couple years and knew his mother, and paul was elected by the senate, and people kept calling and saying, who is paul thurman . Do you know him . I dont. And i got a call, and his sister had passed away and asked if i would go to the funeral with him, and it was over the holidays and many of the family members were out of town, and i started a relationship. Long story short. Two weeks ago, on monday two weeks ago, the governor asked several of us the senator from cherokee and some of us to come and meet with her on monday afternoon, to talk about the battle flag, which i did, and i walked in my office and paul thurman was there and when we left to come back to my office, he had been working on a speech all weekend, and thats probably what we call the speech of the senate this year and he asked if he could read it to me and review it, and i said absolutely. I listened to the speech and made suggestions, and i thought it may improve it and he incorporated some of them and like his dad, he did not incorporate some of them, and it was truly a great speech. I we left that office that afternoon, and the governor asked some of us to stand with her at a press conference, and initially he had to go back to charleston and i sat there and i said, we need to go and stand with the governor, we cannot leave the governor if this is going to be the opposition of the battle flag we need to stand with her and cant leave her out there alone and i think the optics of paul thurman, and i know Lindsay Graham and scott when other officials but nobody was more important from the optics of this than paul thurman because of what this family has meant to the state, and when he gave the speech he was going to give the speech last week and i went to him the day before and the senator from cherokee asked we need to wait before we get into the flag debate and maybe if you can ask him to delay it, and i said would you delay it until next week and he looked at me and said, no not going to do it, i am going to give it today. So i just want to let everybody know after this past three years, when i walk into the chamber every day, i look at that portrait because i was chair of the Portrait Commission in 1987, and built the monument for it on the state house grounds, and senator from charleston, paul thurman, your dad is looking at you and saying, thats my boy. Thank you. We have voteiosetoes, approximately 37 veto ppz. The South Carolina senate moved on to other agenda items and at the top of the list was the debate over the Confederate Flag. Senate lawmakers approved a bill that would remove the confederate battle flag from the state house, and that measure is now moving over to the South Carolina house where its unclear what will happen to the measure. So this issue is not quite settled. Many of you offered Facebook Comments about the ongoing debate. Joshua says this is still a debate . They lost. Flag down. End of story. And this from shirley leave the history alone. The only hate i see comes from those wanting to remove it. We look forward to getting your comments and your twitter remarks at facebook. Com cspan. In todays debate and yesterdays from the South Carolina senate from the Confederate Flag is available on our website cspan. Org. The u. S. Congress returns today from its fourth of july week, and this week the house comes in at 2 00 p. M. And plans to continue and finish work on a bill to fund the interior department and epa and other agencies. Among the changes to no child left behind, allowing states to set their own accountability standards. The senate is back today working on a Senate Proposal dealing with no child left behind and that particular bill would give states more authority to give weight to standardized desk scores. And see the house today at 2 00 p. M. Eastern and the senate when they come in at 2 30. Last month the house panel heard from the epas acting assistant on the rule to revise National Standard for ozone, and she talked about the new impact on states and local communities as well as the technology and resources to help meet the new standard. And the epa is expected to finalize that rule by october. I would like to bring the hearing to order. This mornings hearing is going to be focused on eappas proposed rule. I would like to recognize myself for the opening statement. The proposed rule would lower the standard from 75 parts per billion down to 65 or 70 and the agency is also taking comments on 60 parts per billion, and these proposed levels are so low that in some parts of the country they are at or near the background levels. The proposed levels are so low that even epa admits that its not fully known in some areas how to achieve full compliance in in other words, they would have to use unknown controls to do it to meet those standards. The marginal cost of ratcheting down the existing standard go through the roof and epa estimates that a 65 to 70 parts per billion standard would cost 3. 9 to 15 billion annually and 60 parts would cost 39 billion annually. Independent estimates are higher and that puts the cost of a 65 parts per billion standard the most expenseive regulation ever. This study also estimates 1. 4 million fewer jobs and household costs averaging 830 per year. These costs come on top of all of the other rules we have seen from this administration, many of which also impact the energy and manufacturing sectors, moreover, this rule is yet another chapter in the administrations effort to force more extreme Climate Policies on the American People. I might also i would like to name a few of them. We have done the utility mack, the border mack the cement mack the cross state air pollution rule and the pm, and the 111 b and d and tier 3 and on top of the proposed ozone rule. I would also like to point out that in today in america there are 230 counties not in compliance with the 2008 standard and i might also add that epa is just now getting around to providing implementing guidance for the states for the 2008 rule. Now these counties not meeting the new standard would be designated as nonattainment, and as i said, there are 230 counties today in nonattainment around the country, and epa estimates that fully 358 counties that currently have monitors would be a nonattainment if they go to 70 parts per billion and 558 counties would be in noncompliance at 65 parts per billion based on recent data, and this does not include counties nearby or without ozone monitors that may also be designated by epa to be in nonattainment. Now, a nonattainment designation is like a self imposed recession for some areas. In such counties it becomes extremely difficult to obtain a new permit to build a factory or power plant and even permits for existing facilities would be impacted, and just last week in a survey of manufacturers, over half of them, 53 , said they were not likely to continue with a new plant or expansion if its located in a nonatoeupbtainment area and the same challenges are for roads and large structure projects and in effect almost all new major jobrecreateing Economic Activity in jeopardized until the nonattainment area meets the standard, which could take years, if not decades. And if a location could be designated as nonattainment is enough to scare off perspective employers so the proposed rule is already doing damage. There is something wrong with our system when you have major parts of california they have the most stringent Environmental Standards in the country and on top of that epa, and those areas, San Joaquin Valley los angeles, may never be in compliance, and they are certainly not in compliance today and have been out of compliance since the beginning of the Clean Air Act, so we have a system that is not working very well. At this time i would like to recognize the gentleman from new jersey for his fiveminute opening statement. Thank you, chairman for holding this hearing on the ozone. And i want to thank janet mccabe for testifying before the Sub Committee again. Since 1970, standards helped to insure all americans can breathe healthy air. Essentially the standard sets the level of pollution that is safe to breathe structure has been effective in cleaning the air and protecting Public Health including the health of children and seniors, but the current 75 parts per billion standard has fallen short and it has been weaker than the facts would allow, and the Advisory Committee made Crystal Clear in order to adequately protect the Public Health epa must adequately uphold the standard and it was not upheld by the Bush Administration. And now they want to resize the standard to fall within the range of 65 to 75 parts per billion as recommended by the scientific Advisory Committee, and epas provision is consistent with the law and the Scientific Evidence and there are a litany of impacts that would be avoided with the standards, and millions of missed school days and thousands of premature deaths. These are meaningful realworld benefits but i have little doubt that today we will hear much about cause, yet a Unanimous Supreme Court opinion made it clear that epas approach for determining the safe level is correct and costs may not be considered. The standard is set based on the Health Science and economic costs are only considered later when determining the best way to implement the standard, and the epa sets the goal and the state sets up the way to meet it, and epa has nevertheless worked with the office of management and budget to prepare a careful analysis of the projected costs and benefits associated with reducing ozone. Epa estimates that the benefits associated with the new ozone standards would range from 13 to 38 billion annually outweighing the cost of approximately 3 to 1. Industry has prepared tkaoub russ and grossly inflated estimates of the costs, but fail to consider any of the benefits. That paints a onesided picture of the cost of cleaning our air, and childrens lungs are developing and breathe greater volumes of air for their size. These doomsday claims about the costs of clean air are nothing new, and the history of the clean act have claims that never come true and the Clean Air Act produced tremendous Public Benefits while supporting americas Economic Growth. The standard is long overdo. We need to let epa do its job to reach the goal of the Clean Air Act, and i look forward to ms. Mccabes testimony. I recognize the gentleman from texas mr. Olson, for five minutes. I thank the chair and i will be very brief. I spent long hours going over comments that epa received about this new ozone rule. There was a common theme, will i lose my job . Questions came from big cities and members of the Atlanta Chamber or the greater ho