American Lung Association to supercommittee: Reject policy riders

The American Lung Association urged members of the debt supercommittee this week to reject policy riders and protect key public health programs as part of their deal to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 billion.

The public health group warned the 12 members of the supercommittee not to make major cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency's budget, as well as those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

“EPA plays a critical role in protecting the public health from life-threatening air pollution that can cause asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and shorten lives,” the American Lung Association said in a letter Monday to members of the panel.

The supercommittee must deliver a deal that would reduce the deficit by Thanksgiving, and environmental and public health groups fear that key EPA programs will face major cuts.

Republicans on the panel, including House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), have led the charge to cut EPA’s budget and block or limit key Obama administration environmental regulations.

The American Lung Association has ramped up its opposition in recent months to House Republicans' attempts to hobble EPA's climate rules and regulations intended to reduce harmful air pollution from industrial boilers, among other things.

Now, the group is turning its attention to the supercommittee.

“[L]egislation that is as important and as far-reaching as what will be produced by this committee must not include policy riders that prevent agencies from taking the steps they are required to do to protect public health,” the letter stated.

Republicans on the supercommittee were slated to hold a strategy session in Washington Tuesday.