White House blasts Sen. Paul's 'brazen' push to block EPA rule

By Andrew Restuccia - 11/07/11 04:34 PM ET

The White House blasted Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Monday for forcing a vote this week on a resolution to overturn a key Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rule.

“Republicans in Congress are trying to use our current economic climate as an excuse to roll back clean air protections that Americans have counted on for decades,” White House energy and climate adviser Heather Zichal said Monday in a blog post.

The public “should never be asked to choose between the health of their children and the health of the economy,” she said. “That is a false choice.”

Zichal called Paul’s effort to overturn EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule — which seeks to reduce smog and particulate-forming pollution from power plants in 27 eastern states — “brazen,” noting that an appeals court “found critical flaws” in standards put forth by the Bush administration in 2008, she said.

“Let’s be clear — this brazen effort doesn’t just undermine the public health, it also undermines the judgment of the courts,” Zichal said.

Paul plans to use the Congressional Review Act, an obscure law that allows Congress to overturn federal regulations, to block the EPA rule.

It’s the latest attempt by Republicans and some Democrats to delay or overturn EPA regulations, which they say burden the economy and result in job losses.

But the EPA says the regulation offers major health benefits, including preventing as many as 34,000 premature deaths by limiting harmful air pollution that crosses state lines.