“JANICE ROGERS BROWN’S RECORD SHOWS NOT ONLY THAT SHE LACKS THE COMMITMENT BUT THAT SHE’S HOSTILE TO ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENTAL ACTION. ALTHOUGH LOCATED HERE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, THE D.C. CIRCUIT AFFECTS ALL AMERICANS BECAUSE ITS DECISIONS HAVE BROAD NATIONAL IMPACT. SOME CASES, SUCH AS THOSE INVOLVING REVIEW OF NATIONAL AIR QUALITY STANDARDS UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT AND NATIONAL DRINKING WATER STANDARDS UNDER THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT CAN ONLY BE HEARD IN THE D.C. CIRCUIT. WE HAVE HAD THE GROWTH IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE PERIOD OF THESE LAST FOUR YEARS. WE HAVE DOUBLED THE DEATHS FOR ASTHMATIC CHILDREN IN THIS NATION. WHY? I THINK YOU CAN POINT TO THE RELAXATION AND THE CHANGE IN THE CLEAN AIR ACT AND THE RELAXATION OF RULES AND REGULATIONS. AND AS A RESULT OF THAT, CHILDREN IN THESE DOWNWIND STATES FROM A LOT OF THESE COMPANIES THAT ARE BURNING THESE TOXINS HAVE EXPERIENCED A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE — THEIR BREATHING DIFFICULTY AND IN ASTHMA DEATHS. THAT IS DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE CHANGE IN THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE CLEAN AIR ACT.”
Ted Kennedy on the floor of the Senate, today.
My friend Jonathan Adler responds:
“Senator Kennedy is correct that asthma mortality rates have increased over the past 25 years. Yet over that same time period, air pollution has declined. More important for the charges he’s hurling on the Senate floor, asthma mortalitry rates have declined, albeit slightly, since 1999. So much for blaming asthma rates on the Bush administration.”
All this is from today’s NRO blog The Corner.
