Congressman Matt Gaetz (R, FL) seeks to kill the EPA with this single sentence.
Environmentalist circles collectively sighed on Friday as the United States Senate voted 52 to 46 to approve the nomination of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency – an agency he sued 14 times as Oklahoma’s attorney general. The point, though, might soon be moot as freshman Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida’s first district (an area of the country likely to be significantly impacted by environmental issues like sea level rise, mind you) recently introduced a single-sentence, eight-word bill seeking to abolish the agency entirely. It’s received support from three other Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
Introduced early this month, the bill reads simply, “The Environmental Protection Agency shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”
H.R. 861. In its entirety.
“The EPA has been doing some drastic things,” Congressman Gaetz told North West Florida Daily News. “They have exceeded their original mission substantially under both Republican and Democratic presidents and violated the sovereignty of the states. I think we need to start fresh.” He explained that the agency is a clear example of government overreach.
The bill isn’t likely to go far, because, as Business Insider reports, Congressional Republicans seem to have consolidated around President Trump’s less extreme, albeit unclear, vision for the agency, which stops short of abolishing it entirely. Still, it’s symbolic.
“It shows how brazen Republicans are in promoting their dirty air and water and anti-science agenda,” said a House Democratic leadership aide.
