Washington, D.C. -- Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the statement below following House passage of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2576) with a vote of 398-1. On April 28, the EPW Committee marked up S. 697, the Vitter-Udall version of TSCA reform, which Senator Boxer opposes.
Senator Boxer said: "I want to thank the environmental organizations and concerned citizens from the public health community who worked so hard to change a dangerous TSCA reform bill that first surfaced two years ago. The bill that passed the House today is a completely different approach which is intended to preserve the rights of the states to protect their citizens from harmful chemicals and sets out a pathway for the EPA to act on dangerous chemicals. That is why the California Attorney General's office supports the House TSCA bill and not the Senate TSCA bill.
"While the House bill could still be improved, I feel it is the appropriate bill to take up in the United States Senate where we can work on just a few amendments to make it better. The Senate bill is far more complex. Its preemption provision is complicated and will lead to the court house.
"Again, I want to thank so many people who pushed hard to change this bill from a dangerous law that would actually make matters worse for our to people to one that will better protect them."
