hearing water resources environment of the transportation infrastructure committee today we're having a hearing review of the fiscal year two thousand and twelve budget and priorities of the environmental protection agency in tax and jobs liberty and the economy and before we get started i want to first solo mean we've had a couple of joint committee hearings but i would like to just take a minute or two and let the members here do some cells and i guess we can stop start down there with  twelve these are issues i want the subcommittee to explore during this congress and hold hearings and some of them when i think it would be helpful to members first and foremost i'm concerned about the proliferation of so called guidance coming out of the an attempt to short circuit the process for changing agency policy without following a proper transparent rule making process much of the so called guidelines amounts to being de facto rules and advisory guidelines in addition i note the exponential increase regulations coming out in recent months or planned for the near future relate to the subcommittee's jurisdiction many of these regulatory efforts are based on questionable science at best and stand to substantially increase the regulatory burden for states local governments and businesses especially small businesses e p a s making a mockery of the ministrations regulatory review initiative to reduce regulatory burdens in our country these guidelines and rule making efforts of concern include but are not limited to guidance to expand the scope of jurisdiction on the clean water act guy and some permitting of sole surface coal mining e p a s recent v of an existing permit for an ongoing mining operation expanded regulation of storm water including coast construction site runoff new development and redevelopment and existing development through retrofitting numerical water quality standards for the state of florida numerical water quality standards for the entire mississippi river basin and cooling water intake structures i'm concerned that more regulations means more unfunded mandates to burden our cities and towns a time when they do they need relief from these types of injustice i'm concerned that the  have fondness for guidance as opposed to regulations and thus a found a backdoor way to get de facto rules in place without the transparency that is built into the formal rule making process of the ministry of procedure act i'm concerned it has unserved state authority by effectively taking over the implementation plans for the chesapeake bay states and has expressed its intention to do so the same elsewhere i'm concerned the requirement for numerical say initial state of florida is just the beginning and other states will soon have a costly job killing requirements placed on them as well i am concerned that while the president is imposing more regulatory burdens on communities businesses and citizens he at the same time is calling for reductions spending for many other programs communities in their efforts to come into compliance with regulations while the president is willing to increase and forstmann spending he is cutting spending for compliance assistance efforts so what i have here is a federal agency that will add to the burden of rules and regulations reduce programs to help folks come into compliance but also put more boots on the ground to track down those who cannot come into compliance with little or no of benefit to the environment this is a government at its worse an agency cutting facilitators but increasing regulators i want to clean i want clean water as much as anyone but i recognize that we have to have a strong economy so we can afford to invest in new programs that new regulations require today is not the day to put more burns on the american people we need to make significant progress in creating long term jobs long term jobs in a stronger economy before we can tolerate more expensive regulations at this time i'll turn it over to  member thank you very much mr chairman and thank you for holding this hearing on the president's fiscal year two thousand and twelve budget request for the environmental protection agency today marks the first of two planned hearings to review the budgets and priorities of the agencies under the fiction of the subcommittee on water resources in the environment these hearings provide a valuable opportunity for our new and returning members to learn the breadth of this subcommittees jurisdiction over several executive branch departments and agencies and i look forward to working with the chairman to he firsthand from the other agencies within our jurisdiction during these planned hearings this chairman all of us recognize the gravity of the financial situation facing this nation and indeed the world today this nation is just starting to emerge from the worst economic recession since the great depression however with the national unemployment rate still standing at nine percent and the unemployment rate for the construction sector at twenty two and a half percent we are far from completing our work thanks in part to the four side of this administration in the courageous actions of the previous congress our nation was able to lessen the potential impact of the last recession on hardworking americans and pull our economy back from the very conservative estimates confirm that but for the infusion of additional infrastructure investment advocated by this committee for inclusion in the recovery act job losses in the construction sector would have been far worse as this committee has shown time and time again investment in our in nation's infrastructure does have a significant impact and positive impact on the economy and it does create jobs this is why i'm so concerned that the new republican majority has taken aggressive steps to cut funding for many federal programs with a proven record of providing economic benefits to the nation and for creating jobs unfortunately republicans have responded to this nation's economic situation with an axe when a scalpel would seem more appropriate just two weeks ago the majority pushed through a stopgap spending bill that decimated several critical infrastructure investment programs and threatens increase job loss and economic uncertainty at an extremely delicate time on the nation's economy today's budget hearing title references impacts the jobs and the economy according to two separate reports from wall street analysts the republican majorit proposal to cut sixty one billion from the current fiscal year budget with decimate broader efforts at job creation throughout the nation and would be taking an unnecessary chance with the ongoing economic recovery specifically these reports highlight how if an acted as had passed by the house the republican proposal would result in four hundred thousand fewer jobs created by the end of fiscal year two thousand and eleven and seven hundred thousand fewer jobs by the end of two thousand and twelve in addition news analysis of the report suggests that the proposal would reduce the growth in the gross domestic product by up to two percentage points this year essentially cutting in half the nation's projected economic growth for two thousand and eleven christine todd whitman republican a administrator under president george w bush estimated that the needs of our nation's aging water infrastructure top six hundred sixty billion dollars yet with the budget of the environmental protection agency within that budget the most notable reduction is the one point four billion proposed cuts to the clean water state revolving fund the primary source of federal investment for our nation's wastewater infrastructure unfortunately this proposal marks a clear reversal of recent bipartisan efforts to increase investment in our nation's failing an outdated waste water infrastructure and on efforts to improve our nation's water quality in terms of job losses this cut alone would eliminate over thirty nine thousand construction jobs throughout the country and countless additional jobs in the industries and small business that support the ways work construction industry at a time when many small businesses and the construction struck sector are struggling to recover furthermore this cut undermines longstanding federal efforts to address our nation's aging infrastructure system mr chairman i ask unanimous consent to include in the record a chart showing the direct state by state losses under the republican majorities proposal to cut the clean water state revolving fun thank you i would like to highlight just a few additional programs where the cuts voted on by the majority will have significant adverse impacts on the economy could result in additional job losses throughout the nation and place at risk the health of a greater number of families first the republican majority has proposed to cut a p a brownfield site assessment and clean up grants by thirty percent this popular bipartisan program provides valuable seed money to cities and towns throughout the country to restore abandoned or underutilized properties to promote economic development and to return commercial properties to local tax rolls estimates suggest that the republican proposal will result in three hundred fewer properties being assessed during the current fiscal year twenty fewer sites being cleaned up and a potential loss of over fifteen hundred additional jobs and approximately three hundred million dollars in leveraged redevelopment funds the majority has also proposed to cut a p a superfun budget by thirty two million dollars this program which was created by this committee to clean up the nation's most toxic waste dumps is critical for protecting public health and the environment for exposure to as or to substances while the exact number is not yet known e p expects that the republican proposal to reduce funding for this program will result in fewer cleanups being undertaken will increase the risk that our communities and families remain exposed to toxic chemicals and substances and could lead to the layoff of countless cleanup workers finally the majority has voted to pull back on e p a s compliance and enforcement capabilities making it far more difficult for the agency to identify and pursue serious violations impacting public health and the environment in communities across the nation according to estimate the republicans continuing resolution could result in the loss of as many as one hundred compliance and enforcement personnel a thousand fewer inspections across all media that is to say air water wastes and toxins and the loss of millions of dollars to the u s treasury from foregone fines penalties and settlements from the most egregious violations in my view this proposal stands in stark contrast to the agency's effort to increase compliance in critical areas within a limited budget and suggest that a week in compliance and enforcement  is somehow better for the nation they just gave their just a few examples of the potential negative impact of the republican continuing resolution on our nation