Waxman: Republicans rebuffed compromise offers on EPA rules

Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said Republicans seeking to weaken, block or delay a suite of environmental regulations have rebuffed Democratic offers to compromise.

Committee Republicans — with backing from some conservative Democrats — are targeting a suite of Environmental Protection Agency regulations that they contend are overly burdensome.

“There are nuances and details where we can give some ground in terms of time frames, in terms of what would be required at what sequence,” Waxman said in a C-SPAN interview that aired Sunday. “We approached the Republicans, saying to them ‘let’s work something out.’ ”

Waxman said a compromise could hold the potential to become law, but attacked what he called “extreme” GOP plans, predicting they will stall in the Senate and would be unlikely to gain President Obama’s signature if they made it that far.

“Maybe [Republicans] are just trying to do a show for their economic base and their political right wing, but we’ve suggested ‘let’s work together.’ And the response we got is, ‘why should we work with you? We’ve got the votes. We’re the majority. We’re going to get what we want,’ ” Waxman said on the “Newsmakers” program. “There is not a sense that they want to work together with us or compromise.”

The committee this week is marking up bills to delay and soften EPA air toxics standards for industrial boilers and cement plants.

Last week Waxman said he had approached the committee’s GOP majority to discuss a compromise on the boiler measure.

A Democratic committee spokeswoman said Waxman has also approached Republicans about legislation that passed the House to loosen air pollution standards and expedite permits for Alaskan offshore oil drilling, and legislation on coal-waste regulation.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has made thwarting EPA rules that the GOP calls “job-killers” a priority this fall.

The House is slated to vote this week on a bill that would delay a recently finalized EPA rule to curb power plant emissions that contribute to smog and particulate pollution, and upcoming utility air toxics standards.

Later in the year, further floor votes are expected to target other rules, such as upcoming greenhouse gas standards.

Waxman called the GOP agenda an attack on public health.

“The Republicans are stuck in the fossil fuel past, and of course they are getting their support from the fossil fuel industries — the oil companies and the coal companies. So they conveniently want to block anything that will protect the public health if the industries don’t like it,” he said on C-SPAN.