'Couldn't Even Believe That I Heard It': AOC Fires Back At Clay Higgins Over His Remarks On The EPA

2 months ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spoke about comments from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).

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Transcript

00:00Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much

00:05Madam Chairwoman. We've heard a lot today. I'd like to bring this conversation a

00:12little bit down to earth about and make it more about the people that we're here

00:16to serve. I'm the Congresswoman for the Bronx and Queens. I represent a community

00:21that has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the United States and

00:27when we hear this conversation about how regulations threaten economic

00:35prosperity, and I jotted it down earlier because I couldn't even believe that I

00:41heard it, that economic prosperity quote is the number one driver of clean air

00:47and clean water as though our rivers were somehow, I mean our rivers and

00:56forests were clean and unpolluted before a single factory was constructed in this

01:02country. That is the state of nature. I want us to be clear about that. Now when

01:10we hear people use this term economic prosperity, I want folks to know at home

01:16what that is a shadow screen for is a term otherwise known as profit. Wall

01:24Street profit very often and Administrator Regan, you've been accused

01:31of sabotaging here the economic prosperity of this country for enforcing

01:39and introducing regulations about chemicals that this committee itself has

01:43investigated such as PFAS. I'd like for us to dig into that a little bit. PFAS is

01:50a chemical byproduct of, and it's a chemical that's in almost everything,

01:55Teflon pans, workout gear, fire extinguisher foam. What are some of the

02:04health consequences that we have seen as a result of elevated levels of PFAS in

02:10everyday for everyday Americans? Well you know they range from various types of

02:15cancers, death, these carcinogenic elements are wreaking havoc on

02:26communities all across the country. We've had people from PFAS affected,

02:32especially PFAS affected communities that have had fertility issues, is that

02:37correct? Yes. Testicular cancer? Yes. Is that correct?

02:41Developmental delays in children, is that is that consistent with what you've

02:46seen? Yes. Thyroid issues, increased risk of cancer, correct? Yes. And that, those

02:55people, those kids, those parents who are struggling to conceive now, that's who we

03:02respond to, that's who we answer to, correct Administrator Regan? Absolutely.

03:06The American people. Now I want to name something, this isn't just economic

03:13prosperity, there are people and organizations and companies responsible

03:18for this. DuPont and 3M are two of the largest corporations that were

03:24responsible for PFAS dumping in the United States, is that correct? Yes. Did

03:29they know that these chemicals were potentially toxic, is that correct? We

03:33believe they did. And we, yet, there are members here of this committee that want

03:41to defend the quote-unquote economic right for a company to poison its people,

03:51the American people. Now when we talk about economic prosperity, if you're a

03:56kid in the South Bronx, if you are a mom in rural Pennsylvania near a PFAS

04:01dumping site, who comes ahead when you get cancer and have a medical bill to

04:06pay? Who comes out ahead from from that PFAS dumping? The CEO of DuPont or that

04:15mom? So when we talk about the bills and the prosperity that gets made from here

04:22and who has to pay that, we need to understand a very simple economic

04:27concept called externalities. Externalities. The costs of pollution, the

04:37cost of poisoning that are not factored into the profit margin of the

04:41corporation that's actually wreaking havoc on this planet. And when we talk

04:45about issues like climate change, it is at its core an issue of externalities

04:51because Exxon Mobil and all of these oil companies can afford to burn this

04:58planet to a crisp because it makes them a pile of money. Now Administrator Regan, I

05:03want to I want to thank you because in the character attacks that you have

05:08experienced in this hearing, I know that you have spent your entire time and your

05:13entire federal service protecting families from being poisoned.

05:17Thank you.

05:18And I want to thank you for that.

05:20Thank you.

'Couldn't Even Believe That I Heard It': AOC Fires Back At Clay Higgins Over His Remarks On The EPA

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