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McConnell’s letter to Governors says EPA’s proposal raises “serious legal and policy concerns”

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on the Nation’s Governors to reject the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulation that requires states to dramatically restructure their electricity systems based on how the agency thinks electricity should be produced and used in each state. The EPA’s demands, McConnell noted, are “far beyond its legal authority.” In a letter to all 50 Governors, Senator McConnell wrote that he has “serious legal and policy concerns regarding the proposal.”

Senator McConnell asked the Governors to “carefully review the consequences before signing up for this deeply misguided plan. I believe you will find, as I have, that the EPA’s proposal goes far beyond its legal authority and that the courts are likely to strike it down. All of which raises the very important question of why the EPA is asking states at this time to propose their own compliance plans in the first place.

“This proposed plan is already on shaky legal grounds, will be extremely burdensome and costly, and will not seriously address the global environmental concerns that are frequently raised to justify it. Moreover, declining to go along with the administration’s legally dubious plan will give the other two branches of government time to address the proposal and will not put your state at risk in the interim. It will provide time for the courts to rule on whether the EPA’s proposed rule is legal, and it will give Congress a chance to address numerous concerns surrounding this latest power grab by the EPA.”

The full text of Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s letter is HERE.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the Protecting Our Infants Act:

“Next month, I look forward to hosting our nation’s newest Drug Czar at a forum in Covington, Kentucky. It’s a forum that will allow Director Botticelli to hear firsthand accounts of the devastating impact of one of America’s most significant public health challenges, one that continues to hit my state particularly hard: The growing epidemic of prescription drug and heroin abuse.

“It’s hard to overstate the challenge.

“Drug overdoses, largely driven by painkillers, now claim more Kentucky lives than car accidents.

“And rising heroin overdose rates now account for nearly a third of all drug overdose deaths in Kentucky.

“While statistics like these are devastating enough, they hardly paint the full picture either.

“Because they don’t account for the thousands of innocent children born dependent on opioids.

“The numbers are hard to hear.

“Nationwide, we’ve seen a staggering 300-percent increase in the number of infants diagnosed with newborn withdrawal since 2000. But in Kentucky, we saw similar numbers grow by an almost unbelievable 3,000 percent.

“It’s a tragic challenge. I say that especially as the father of three daughters.

“But it’s a challenge we can do something about.

“And if Washington enacts the bipartisan Protecting Our Infants Act I’m reintroducing today, along with Senator Casey, it’s a challenge we will do something about.

“This bipartisan bill would do a number of important things.

“It would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop recommendations: both for preventing prenatal opioid abuse, and for treating infants born dependent on opioids.

“It would direct the Secretary to help develop a strategy to address research and program gaps: a step recommended by a Government Accountability Office report released just last month.

“And it would encourage the Director of the CDC to work with states and help improve surveillance and data collection activities in this area.

“No piece of legislation could ever solve this challenge overnight. But the bipartisan Protecting Our Infants Act can help move our country in the right direction.

“That’s why it’s supported by the March of Dimes, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“And that’s why an identical bill will also be introduced in the House of Representatives today, by Congresswoman Katherine Clark, of Massachusetts, and Congressman Steve Stivers, of Ohio.

“I commend these Representatives, and Senator Casey, for their leadership on this issue.

“I look forward to working with them to advance this important measure through Congress.

“And I look forward to discussing it with Director Botticelli during his visit to Kentucky as well.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today urging Senate Democrats to side with human trafficking victims and end their filibuster of the bipartisan human trafficking bill:

“Throughout Democrats’ filibuster of anti-slavery legislation, this is basically what they’ve been telling us: We don’t read legislation we vote on.

“Even so, It was always a stretch to believe that not a single one of the 13 original Democrat cosponsors of this bill — nor the many Democrats who voted for this bill in committee, nor their well-educated staffs — could not have been bothered to make it to page four before deciding to support it.

“Well, support it, at least until far-left lobbyists told them they couldn’t anymore.

“So yesterday’s revelation — that the Democratic side was indeed aware of the language in question — could hardly have surprised anyone.

“It also makes clear that Democrats decided to yank their support for an anti-slavery bill for one simple reason: because far-left lobbyists said so.

“Not because the American people said so.

“Nearly 70% of Americans support the kind of bipartisan provisions Democrats now claim they object to. And many Democrats have voted for similar bipartisan Hyde language many times before, in both appropriations and authorizing legislation.

“So our Democratic colleagues obviously lack a rationale for this continued filibustering of anti-slavery legislation.

“And if Democrats truly are sincere about wanting to move to an attorney general vote as soon as possible, then they should consider some recent advice from the Chicago Tribune.

“Here what it said.

“‘Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have endorsed’ the same bill they are now filibustering, it noted. So, quote, ‘all they have to do is allow a vote’ on the same bill to move to another vote they claim to want to have.

“And yet, as the Tribune also noted, Democrats do not, quote, ‘want to go on the record against a bill aimed at combating the evils of human trafficking. So they are blocking a vote — yes, blocking a law to combat human trafficking — in hopes that they can get their way.’

“Here’s how the editorial concluded. This is the part our Democratic friends should listen to closely.

“‘Democrats,’ it implored. ‘Vote to move forward with the human trafficking bill. Then the Senate can get on with approving a new attorney general. And Democrats can resolve never again to vote for a bill they haven’t read.’

“It seems so simple: ignore the lobbyists, vote to give hope to the victims of slavery instead.

“That’s the right thing to do. And today, we’ll give our friends another chance to show where they stand in this debate over modern slavery.”

Recent Press Releases

Senator McConnell Urges Nation’s Governors to “Carefully Review the Consequences” Before Submitting a Plan to Implement EPA’s New Regulation

March 20, 2015

McConnell Unveils Bipartisan Bill to Combat Maternal Addiction and Infant Opioid Withdrawal

‘Nationwide, we’ve seen a staggering 300-percent increase in the number of infants diagnosed with newborn withdrawal since 2000. But in Kentucky, we saw similar numbers grow by an almost unbelievable 3,000 percent.’

March 19, 2015

McConnell: Choose Support for Human Trafficking Victims Over Far-Left Lobbyists

March 19, 2015