Fallon To EPA Administrator Regan: 'You Would Agree We Live In A Representative Republic, Correct?'

2 months ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) questioned EPA Administrator Michael Regan about the authority of his administration.

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Transcript

00:00Chair recognizes our energy expert, Mr. Fallon from Texas. Thank you, Mr.

00:06Chairman. Listen, I don't want to plow over fields that have already been tilled

00:11Administrator Reagan, so I'm gonna keep things simple. I want to start with just

00:14speaking with you, having an exchange philosophically. You would agree that we,

00:18and this is real basic stuff, you would agree we live in a representative

00:22republic, correct? I'm sorry? We live in a representative republic. Yes.

00:26Philosophically, I agree with you. So which do you believe, even a binary

00:31choice, should have more legal weight and be held in higher regard? Choices A and B.

00:38A, laws passed by Congress, the elected, the folks that are elected by the people,

00:44and then signed by the president, so that's choice A. Or B, a rule imposed by

00:49unelected bureaucrats. What do you think should have more legal weight and held

00:54in higher regard? A or B. I like the system that we have. So you want to

01:00answer? A or B. Congress gives, Congress writes the laws, the president signs it

01:05in, and we implement them. So you would agree then that a law should hold more

01:09weight than a rule? I'm sorry? You would agree then that a law should have more

01:14weight than a rule? The rules are designed under the auspice of the law.

01:20Okay, so we're not gonna get an answer. So I, you know, I think it's obvious. It's not

01:24binary. Well, I think it's obvious that we are a, if we're not a rule of law

01:30nation, and if the rule of law doesn't prevail, and the laws of rules prevail,

01:35then our republic is in dire jeopardy. Administrator, the EPA are to your

01:40direction. Would you describe it as, did you think that you all shown restraint

01:44and balance, or have you repeatedly seriously overreached? No, I think we have

01:49shown balance and an aggressive approach to tackling some of the biggest

01:55challenges that our country faces. Okay, so you've shown, in your opinion, you have

01:59shown restraint and balance. What I find interesting about that is that under

02:03your tutelage, the EPA has imposed 1.6 trillion dollars of new federal

02:09regulatory costs, and those are estimates that your own department has published.

02:15The prior administration cut costs by 160 billion dollars, and this is what I

02:21find even more interesting. In the EPA, these regulatory costs, there's one

02:26agency in less than four years has imposed more costs than the entire

02:32federal government did under the eight years of, of all things, the Obama

02:36administration. So again, changing gears, keeping things simple. Environmental

02:43Protection Agency, which leads me, and I'm sure many others, to presume that your

02:49job is to protect the environment. And public health. Okay. I looked up what

02:56environment, the definition, and it says complex of physical, chemical, and

03:01biotic factors such as climate, soil, living things, makes sense, that act upon

03:06in organisms or in ecological community. Okay. So I'm troubled when, and I did

03:13watch the exchange, I wasn't here, but I was up in my office, and I watched the

03:15exchange between you and, at the time, Chair Mace, where she was talking to you

03:20about an outfit called the Climate Justice Alliance. And of course, I think

03:25the things that 50 million dollars is a lot of money, it doesn't have anything

03:29whatsoever to do with protecting the environment, free Palestine to fund the

03:33police, those sort of things. And you said when she asked her, you said and

03:36insisted, under oath, that they had not received a penny on, from the EPA. Is that

03:41correct? That's correct. Okay. So I, but when I heard you, and I heard her, the

03:46exchange, it seemed to me you were saying they have not yet received a penny. And

03:50then she asked you, and I'd like to give you the opportunity now to clarify,

03:55because I was very interested in the response. She asked you to commit, right

04:00now, to guaranteeing that while you're the EPA administrator, that they will

04:04never receive a penny. And I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to say,

04:10because of some of the things that were said, that I think we all agree are

04:14offensive, I have to legally go through a process to ensure that they either are

04:21in or out of the bounds. Because there's going to be litigation one way or

04:25another. And so what I said was, she didn't give me the time, so I'm glad you

04:29are. They have not received any money yet. They're going through a very thorough

04:33evaluation. Thorough, like the things, when administrators stay robust, I get

04:37scared. And we have yet to make that decision. Okay, so you cannot guarantee us

04:41that that kind of an outfit, the Climate Justice Alliance, which has nothing to do

04:46with protecting the environment, but everything to do with protecting far

04:48leftist political fortunes, may actually get that 50 million dollars. Well listen,

04:54I don't want to get into the hypotheticals, but... Can you, can you answer this then?

04:57Because we only have 10 seconds left. That you would like to, you would agree that you

05:01would not like to see an outfit like the Climate Justice Alliance get any money.

05:04Can you even at least go that far? I would not like to see any organization...

05:09Including Climate Justice Alliance? ...that expresses bigotry or any kind of racist

05:17behavior or discrimination, I would not like to see any organization get any

05:21money from the federal government. It's abhorrent. So can we work together on

05:26making sure they don't get any money? You've got a whole line of people behind

05:29you, like 14 I think is what I counted. Yeah. That would be awesome. We've got a

05:32lot, I've got a lot of people behind me. I've got my general counsel, I've got the

05:35program looking into the options. I hope we all work together as a team, because it is

05:41abhorrent. Two or two not give that grant. Thank you, Mr. Administrator. I appreciate it.

05:44Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Gentleman yields back.

Fallon To EPA Administrator Regan: 'You Would Agree We Live In A Representative Republic, Correct?'

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