The GOP's hidden debt-deal agenda: Gut the EPA

[NoGOPZone]

Source: Time.com

It was lost in the endless drama of the debt-ceiling negotiations, but last week the Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives launched an unprecedented attack on the country's environmental protections. GOP representatives added rider after rider to the 2012 spending bill for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, tacking on amendments that would essentially prevent those agencies - charged with protecting America's air, water and wildlife - from doing their jobs.

Last week's rider fest wasn't unusual for the 112th U.S. Congress. Representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey - two senior Democrats with solid green credentials - recently charted all the votes taken so far this year and calculated that the Republican-led House has voted to "stop," "block" or "undermine" efforts to protect the environment 110 times since January. As Natural Resources Defense Council president Frances Beinecke wrote recently, this body of lawmakers stands an excellent chance of becoming "the most anti-environment House of Representatives" in U.S. history.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/gops-hidden-debt-deal-agenda-gut-epa-111500435.html

[daa]

1. We can't afford that we need to cut, cut , cut. Didn't yo listen

to Obama's victory speech?

[primavera]

2. And Dems supported it

Which makes raping the environment a pastime that now enjoys bipartisan support. Great, just great.

[Doctor_J]

3. Hidden? This is one of their blatant ones

the hidden ones are public schools, SS, Medicare, Medicaid

[dissidentboomer]

4. Haven't you heard? Don't you know? We can no longer afford to be a first world nation with

environmental protections, some wild life, fishing, hunting, and nice parks. We can't afford it. The monarchist party and the corporations have told us so! All that environmental shit is just more "I want a pony"! :sarcasm:

[CarmanK]

5. IT's not so hidden, the TPARTY hates the fed!

It is the people's govt that actually is big enough to stand up the to the corporate bullies who have taken over the states. The RED STATES in particular. The FED is supposed to be the bulwark against the "WOULD BE KING" LIKE Murdoch, Massey, KOCHS etc..... These rats are leaving town and the FAA is still unfunded. For 5 weeks, the 4000 workers are furloughed, countless will be working without pay (because they are necessary) and thousands more will be idle on the airport construction projects in process. They are irresponsible, hate filled individuals who should be gone. They do not represent real people. They are as soulless and as ruthless as their corporate sponsors.

[Fearless]

6. We can't make corporations pay for costly safety equipment and disposal processes!!!!111!!!

:nuke:

[SoapBox]

7. What happens with no rules...

...in the LA Times this morning about the Gowanus Canal that runs through Brooklyn, NY.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gowanus-canal-20110802,0,1016498.story

Who is going to get the clean up done? Industry? The polluters? NOPE! The EPA and American citizens.

[stormpilot]

8. I take this as an assault

On our country's soil, and it's people. They're trying to kill us!

[AndyTiedye]

9. The Alternative Was a Default that Would Have Shut Down the EPA Completely

[primavera]

10. a.) There were other alternatives

b.) Even if it had come down to a shutdown, it would only have been a temporary one, whereas now, thanks to the spirit of bipartisan cooperation, the elimination of EPA functions will be permanent.

[AndyTiedye]

11. Temporary Until When?

The shutdown would be temporary until we made a "deal".

Our side would be under a lot more pressure (something the teabaggers are completely immune to),
and the "deal" would have been far worse.

[primavera]

12. Without a crystal ball...

... neither of us can really know what might have happened, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about what we believe might have been possible. Now we'll never know.

[Downwinder]

13. The EPA is a legacy GOP program, getting rid of the Nixon legacy.