WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) sent another letter to Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) regarding a major encroachment on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction. For a second time, he called attention to the Judiciary Committee Republicans’ attempt to use a typically non-controversial bill to make serious changes to the Clean Air Act under the guise of “streamlining environmental statutes."
In the letter, Pallone points out that the majority’s recent letter to EPA, “appears to indicate that you have decided to exercise the Committee’s authority by opening an investigation into the Agency’s actions in regard to this matter" and that the majority’s inquiry - while without merit - only confirms that H.R. 2834 goes far beyond a pure restatement of current law. To that end, Pallone requests that any vote on H.R. 2834 or any other “legislation related to the codification of the Clean Air Act be postponed until the conclusion of such an inquiry."
