Zoe Lofgren

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Mr. Speaker, as chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, I rise on behalf of every member of that delegation to strongly oppose this resolution. We have got very few legislative days left in this Congress, and the Republican majority has decided to use time on the floor today not to lower costs that are crushing Americans but to once again pick a fight with California. Now, California has the fourth largest economy in the world. We are also a donor State that pays more in Federal taxes than we get back by about $806 billion a year. But rather than thank us, House Republicans are instead trying to undermine our ability to govern ourselves and protect the health of Americans. Now, what is the point of this resolution? How is encouraging ships to burn more expensive diesel going to help the families across America struggling with Trump's affordability crisis? The war of choice in Iran that the President initiated has caused prices to spike. The other day, I was driving by a gas station and saw diesel fuel at $8.99 a gallon. It is easier and cheaper for ships to plug in at the dock, and the only people who will benefit from this resolution are the oil and gas companies. Finally, there is the question of the legality of repealing these waivers under the Congressional Review Act. The administration resubmitted these waivers in order to designate them as rules to trigger the CRA. Now, the State of California sued, and a Federal court has ordered the EPA to withdraw or correct the reclassifications of all six Clean Air Act section 209 waiver orders that it submitted to Congress because EPA violated the law in labeling them as rules and submitting them to Congress for action under the CRA. In fact, just this last Saturday, September 12, the court ordered EPA to undo its illegal actions specifically with respect to these two maritime waivers after the judge learned they were about to come up for a vote. Republicans are ignoring the brand new direct order of the Federal court by continuing on with the CRAs. I will end with this. California's economy, the fourth biggest in the world, has done pretty well without D.C. Republicans meddling in its business. I think Congress should reject this illegal overreach and vote ``no'' on the resolution.