Fred Upton

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. May I ask how much time remains.

Mr. UPTON. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), a member of the committee.

Mr. UPTON. Madam Chair, I think we have the right to close. How much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. UPTON. We can accept one and one. Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent that the majority and the minority each have an additional 1 minute on this amendment.

Mr. UPTON. Fine.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, we followed regular order on this bill. We had plenty of hearings. We issued a discussion draft. We had markups in both full and the subcommittee. We sought bipartisan support. In fact, we received it. Mr. Peterson, who spoke earlier, the former chairman of the House Ag Committee, Mr. Rahall, the former chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, are both original cosponsors. We have different rules than the other body, the Senate. They are debating this same issue today in fact. They have been debating it now for a couple of weeks. And it's interesting to me that a number of the amendments on the amendment tree in the Senate by different Democratic sponsors--in fact, I would confess that the EPA has run amok because they, too, though they might not be fully supportive of this legislation, they too are supporting a 2-year time-out to the EPA, to tell them to stop. They're not ready for this. I supported, I voted for the Clean Air Act back in 1990. And I think most of my colleagues then, it was a strong majority that supported that. It allows the EPA to regulate 188 different contaminants. They do that. This bill does not weaken that work by the EPA. There was an issue then that the Senate included in their version of the bill something that did regulate greenhouse gases. And when it went to conference with the House, John Dingell was then chairman of the conference committee, the House did not accept the Senate language. The Senate receded to the House, as the lingo goes, and in fact the Clean Air Act then ended up without regulating greenhouse gases. We had a huge debate in the last Congress on cap-and-trade. Speaker Pelosi had an 86-vote margin here in the House. Cap-and-trade, yes, it did pass in the House. It passed by seven votes. So you switch four votes, it goes the other way. But despite that passage in June of 2009, the Senate did not take that legislation up. Didn't go through subcommittee, full committee, never got to the Senate floor, and it died with the conclusion of the 110th Congress. What we are saying is that the Congress, elected leaders here, should decide what is regulated. We know from the testimony that we had in committee we may lose as many as 1.5 million jobs. We heard from the refineries. They know that it's going to increase costs because they're going to have additional regulation. They're going to pass those costs on. And, in fact, it will raise the price of gasoline by 20 cents to 50 cents over the next number of years. That's not what we want to see in this country. And what's going to happen? What's going to happen to those jobs? They're going to leave this country, and they're not going to come back. And they're going to go to other places like, let's face it, India and China, where neither country has nearly the environmental laws that we have today. We are going to continue to enforce, to see the Clean Air Act enforced. This does not weaken that act. We just say we're not ready to regulate greenhouse gases, not when we have an unemployment rate where it is today--Michigan much higher than the national average--knowing that it's going to cost a lot of jobs. So I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It tells the EPA, no, you are not going to do this. We will see what happens with the Senate, as they debate this issue the rest of the day and perhaps into tomorrow. But I would urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 910, particularly now as we get into the amendments.

Mr. UPTON. We're working against the clock a little bit; so I would prefer that we just do one and one and end it there on this amendment. Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent that each side have 1 additional minute on this amendment.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy), a member of the committee.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, if I might just enter in a brief colloquy with my friend, the gentleman from California. Each of us has about the same amount of time left. I have allocated my time; I presume you have as well. My remaining speakers are meeting someplace, and I'm prepared to close and yield back if you are, unless somebody comes to the floor awfully fast. Is it the same for you?

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson), the former chairman of the House Ag Committee and now ranking member of that committee.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the House Ag Committee, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Berg). (Mr. BERG asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), a member of the committee.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to a cosponsor of the bill, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Boren).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the chairman of the Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus). (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Gardner).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the former chairman of the Natural Resources Committee and the current ranking member on the Transportation Committee, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton). (Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield).

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation that we are about to take up, H.R. 910, and to insert extraneous material on the bill.