“I urge my colleagues, and the American people, not be distracted by suggestions that nothing is going on here, nothing new is going on here, no precedent is being set here. Because it is.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor following the Majority Leader’s announcement that Republicans plan to go nuclear by throwing out the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling on California’s clean air waivers, taking a sledgehammer to states’ rights, and going against his word that he wouldn’t override the parliamentarian’s rulings. During his speech, Schiff urged Senate Republicans to consider the implications this decision will have on their states if they use the Congressional Review Act against California’s waivers.
“Today, it is California and our ability to set our own air quality standards. But tomorrow, it can be your own state’s priorities made into a target by this vote to open the Pandora’s Box of the Congressional Review Act,” Schiff said.
Watch his full remarks HERE. Download remarks HERE.
Key Excerpts:
On the majority leaders’ hypocritical statements on upholding GAO ruling:
The moment that we have been warning about. The moment the Majority and its members used to say, under their leadership, would never come. And yet here we are: the week our colleagues may push to go nuclear and override the parliamentarian – killing the filibuster and going against their own word to unwind 60 years of precedent and policy. And no matter what anyone says, that is what is happening. Our colleagues will be overruling the parliamentarian to end California’s right to cleaner air.
This Majority promised, and I quote: “We can’t go there.” I’m old enough to remember just when it was they said it – because it was their Majority Leader, just 19 weeks ago. Nineteen weeks ago. But, ‘not to worry’, the Majority says. This is not what this is about, they claim. Instead, we have heard the Majority try to dress this up as an attack on the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, saying that their unprecedented action was preceded, almost warranted, by the GAO’s actions.
On warning Republicans’ against overruling the parliamentarian:
[…] California has established clean air standards. It was given a waiver under the Clean Air Act to do so. It has done so for decades. Those standards have been adopted voluntarily by other states. And as a result, in California and many other states, we have cleaner air to breathe. Until now. Until now. When the Majority has decided to abolish the filibuster so that they could eradicate California’s clean air standards. So that they could use a summary process that doesn’t apply here to get over the hurdle that they require 60 votes in order to do this.
And I urge my colleagues, and the American people, not be distracted by suggestions that nothing is going on here, nothing new is going on here, no precedent is being set here. Because it is. And that is to eliminate the filibuster in the service of the oil industry. Whether it’s an attack on the GAO or the parliamentarian – the new ground we find ourselves in today is dangerous both in the effects it will have on California and on this body.
On the domino effect of the dangerous precedent this decision sets:
[…] This week’s vote is short-sighted because it’s going to have devastating impacts for our nation’s health, but it’s more than that. And it should send a chill down the spine of legislators in every state and communities across the country, regardless of their political affiliation because the Senate is now setting a new standard, and one that will haunt us in the future. And it will haunt those states whose Senators vote to go down this path. Make no mistake. Today, it is California and our ability to set our own air quality standards.
But tomorrow, it can be your own state’s priorities made into a target by this vote to open the Pandora’s Box of the Congressional Review Act. That oil drilling lease? That one of your state just got approved? That could be on the chopping block with a simple majority if the filibuster is eliminated. That license for a new energy hub? Gone with a simple vote of this body. That new community grant? Gone with a simple vote of this body. That’s fair game now, if the Majority adopts this tact. This vote to expand the power of this expedited process called the Congressional Review Act, will be used to target Democratic and Republican priorities alike.
Background:
Schiff has repeatedly called out Senate Republicans’ plan to overturn the parliamentarian to target these waivers provided to California on the basis of nearly 60 years of precedent and EPA policy.
Read the transcript of his remarks as delivered below:
Mr. President, here we are.
The moment that we have been warning about.
The moment the Majority and its members used to say, under their leadership, would never come.
And yet here we are: the week our colleagues may push to go nuclear and override the parliamentarian – killing the filibuster and going against their own word to unwind 60 years of precedent and policy.
And no matter what anyone says, that is what is happening. Our colleagues will be overruling the parliamentarian to end California’s right to cleaner air.
This Majority promised, and I quote: “We can’t go there.”
I’m old enough to remember just when it was they said it– because it was their Majority Leader, just 19 weeks ago. Nineteen weeks ago.
But, ‘not to worry’, the Majority says. This is not what this is about, they claim.
Instead, we have heard the Majority try to dress this up as an attack on the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, saying that their unprecedented action was preceded, almost warranted, by the GAO’s actions.
Yes, my colleagues Senator Whitehouse, Senator Padilla, and myself went to the GAO to ask for their guidance on whether this expedited mechanism, called the CRA could be used to target California’s waivers, California’s right to establish stronger clean air standards.
And yes, the GAO responded affirming that this expedited process, the CRA, does not apply. That these are not the rules.
That if they want to strike down California’s clean air rules, they can do so but not in this summary fashion. Not without 60 votes.
That is the ruling that the parliamentarian has reaffirmed, and which the Majority now wants to strike down.
But let’s be clear: going to the GAO was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it was exactly what both parties have done when adjudicating this issue for decades.
There are Senators serving in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, who have made use of the exact same process by going to the GAO.
There have been more than twenty different opinions delivered by the GAO at the request of Republican Senators and Members of Congress in the last three decades. More than twenty times.
And in the cases where the GAO found that the CRA may not apply, this expedited process may not apply. That decision has stood.
They did not move forward and respected the rulings of the GAO and the parliamentarian, until now.
So what does all this mean?
What it means is California has established clean air standards. It was given a waiver under the Clean Air Act to do so.
It has done so for decades.
Those standards have been adopted voluntarily by other states. And as a result, in California and many other states, we have cleaner air to breathe.
Until now. Until now.
When the Majority has decided to abolish the filibuster so that they could eradicate California’s clean air standards.
So that they could use a summary process that doesn’t apply here to get over the hurdle that they require 60 votes in order to do this.
And I urge my colleagues, and the American people, not be distracted by suggestions that nothing is going on here, nothing new is going on here, no precedent is being set here. Because it is.
And that is to eliminate the filibuster in the service of the oil industry.
Whether it’s an attack on the GAO or the parliamentarian – the new ground we find ourselves in today is dangerous both in the effects it will have on California and on this body.
In California in particular, because it means that this Congress is abolishing filibuster so that Californians will have to breathe dirtier air.
That’s what this is about. They want to abolish the filibuster.
So that polluters can pollute more. And Californians have to breathe dirtier air.
Because they know they don’t have the votes for it otherwise.
And taken together, my colleagues are embarking on a path that will forever change the Senate.
It will not just mean dirtier air for California and dirtier air for all the other states that have adopted California’s higher standard.
It will also mean that the filibuster is gone for a whole range of things.
Now I represent a state that makes up one out of every 10 Americans. It is the fourth largest economy in the world.
So one out of every 10 Americans is going to be deeply impacted, and of course if you add all of the other states that have adopted this higher standard for their citizens, it may be more like one out of every five.
But it’s more than that as well. Because what we have at stake is also a state’s ability, it’s right to make its own laws and to protect its own citizens, without having this body overturn that right.
This week’s vote is short-sighted because it’s going to have devastating impacts for our nation’s health, but it’s more than that.
And it should send a chill down the spine of legislators in every state and communities across the country, regardless of their political affiliation because the Senate is now setting a new standard, and one that will haunt us in the future.
And it will haunt those states whose Senators vote to go down this path.
Make no mistake.
Today, it is California and our ability to set our own air quality standards.
But tomorrow, it can be your own state’s priorities made into a target by this vote to open the Pandora’s Box of the Congressional Review Act.
That oil drilling lease? That one of your state just got approved? That could be on the chopping block with a simple majority if the filibuster is eliminated.
That license for a new energy hub? Gone with a simple vote of this body.
That new community grant? Gone with a simple vote of this body.
That’s fair game now, if the Majority adopts this tact.
This vote to expand the power of this expedited process called the Congressional Review Act, will be used to target Democratic and Republican priorities alike.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1985. I remember what it was like to breathe the air in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
I have seen images of what the air was like in Los Angeles in the 70s and the 60s and the 50s. We are a basin.
And with all of that automobile traffic and all that congestion and our geography and topography, it means that exhaust gets trapped, that smog gets trapped.
There are times when you can’t see the hills in front of you. There are times when you can’t see down the street. Or at least their used to be.
There is a reason why California got this waiver decades ago, because there were unique challenges facing places like Los Angeles.
And so California acted to protect its own citizens. But if your state acts to protect your citizens, whether it’s from dirty air that can give you lung cancer, or whether it’s pollutants in the water that can give you all kinds of cancer. Do we really want this body with a simple majority vote to eviscerate what the states are doing to protect their own citizens?
So I urge my colleagues again not to abandon states’ rights in the Senate this week. Because this may be a policy you agree with today.
But the thing about a slippery slope is: You can be the one who starts down the slope, but you don’t get to be the one who decides where it stops.
I yield back.
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