Posted on 10/16/2013 12:40:24 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The head of the Senate panel overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the agencys chief is committed to restarting its operations as soon as possible once the government shutdown ends.
Knowing Gina McCarthy the way I do, Administrator McCarthy, she will get up and running as fast as she can, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said at a press conference on Wednesday.
And knowing the workers as well as I know them, they care deeply," she added. "Their morale is low, but they know that America is behind them."
Boxers comments came as House and Senate leadership was scrambling to put the finishing touches on a bill to fund the government and raise the countrys debt ceiling before a Thursday deadline.
About 94 percent of the workers at the EPA have been furloughed, halting the vast majority of the agency's operations for more than two weeks during the shutdown.
On Tuesday, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee highlighted 10 reasons why the government shutdown isnt all bad, noting that furloughed EPA workers makes it less likely that they'll make up science on new regulations, among other effects.
Democrats on Wednesday disagreed, and said that the furloughs amounted to cops being taken off the beat to protect public health and the environment.
How would we like to live in a community where theres no police officers, expecting everybody would be just fine? Thats not the real world, said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
They noted that infrastructure projects have been halted by the shutdown, and communities reliant on tourism have been hurt by closures to national parks and wildlife refuges.
Its killing the tourism business in so many parts of our nation, right before winter hits. Its hurting people now, Boxer said.
The shutdown, Democrats said, has prevented the Army Corps of Engineers from permitting new infrastructure projects. Among those projects stuck in bureaucratic limbo is a proposal to dredge the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii.
This is where our navy ships come in, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said. This affects national security.
Boxer said that the effects of the shutdown should discourage lawmakers from allowing funding to run out ever again.
We want to make the record clear so that this never happens again, she said. Theres a reason why the government hasnt been shut down since the '90s. Its because the pain that was inflicted on our country.
Interesting question. I'm going to have to do a cost/benefit analysis and get back with you... "
As long as there is the elected Sheriff and his Deputies, it's probably going to be OK.
Sounds like it’s revenge time for the EPA of imaginary wrongs.
*Its killing the tourism business in so many parts of our nation, right before winter hits. Its hurting people now, Boxer said. *
No comment from Boxer about how much misery and how many deaths will be caused by Obamacare.
No comment from Boxer about how much misery and how many deaths will be caused by the draconian EPA cap n’ tradesque laws and taxes that will desroy our economy and bring us to third world poverty.
Boxer.. damn I thought it was George Burns.
Oh, goody! I just love appliances that don’t work, gas that eats up engines, toilets that splash and clog, increased prices on everything due to regulations, tiny cars, detergents that don’t get things clean, sewer lines that clog due to not enough water carrying the waste along, people arrested for draining ponds on their own property, a blight of disease carrying insects due to insecticides being banned, and paying higher taxes to support all these leeches and petty tyrants!
If the founding fathers could see our country now, they would wonder why they bothered to start a revolution.
Despite how the MSM is crowing we are winning.
I do live in a community where there are no police officers. My neighbors are all armed and there’s rarely any problems.
Thank GOD! I was having trouble breathing.. (cough cough) /s
Did babs boxer see the guns in their hands???
Whew, was I ever worried about the EPA.
I see that Ben Cardin is off his meds again. Police are hired by localities, not the federal government re local law enforcement.
Ben should know. His hometown of Baltimore (he lived up the street from me), doesn’t pay their police with federal funds unless they raid any block grants they received, usually meant for poverty and educational programs.
Besides it would take the Army to clean up Baltimore, or Boxer’s Oakland, or Philadelphia, E. St. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, etc.
From what I can gather about EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, she is a hardline leftist, just like her predecessors Lisa Jackson and marxist Carol Browner.
As anti-business as can be, by her own words. Unemployment, here she comes.
Boxer is certifiably nuts.\
America is NOT behind the EPA.
They loathe the EPA and all the jobs they have cost America.
Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
I’ll bet the vast majority of Americans would never know the federal government was shut down, unless they read it in the news or saw it on the TV. I like to stay up on current events, especially politics, so I obviously know that the government is closed for business (at least 17% of it is).
But in our daily lives here in rural north central Florida on our 25 acre property where we’re retired and raise beef cattle, my wife and I see no evidence that the government is open or closed. We would never know otherwise. The federal government is not a factor in our lives on a daily basis. We personally think that the government closing down for a period of time is a good thing. They should get used to running on lean. It’s good for the taxpayers.
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