Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. NOLAN. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, my amendment would see to it that nothing in this legislation does any harm to Social Security or Medicare. Why? It is because, first of all, they are not entitlements; they are earned benefits that people started paying for the first day, the first hour that they ever went to work.

Our seniors rely on their Social Security and Medicare. Nothing has done more to lift more people out of poverty and give them health and life expectancy than Social Security and Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, the underlying legislation that we are looking at here proposes to provide relief, but in fact, it proposes to emasculate and do away with the regulatory process and, in the process, do great harm and great damage to the things, the many things that have made this country the great Nation that it is.

I have got to tell you, as I look around this room here and the age of this Congress, make no mistake about it; many of you were there when I was there, when our rivers were running sewers, when our lakes were catching on fire, when our coal miners and boat workers were dying young in life from fiberglass lungs and coal dust in their lungs.

I spent time in the sawmills; I owned one. You couldn't find anyone that could count to 5 on their hands because they were either missing fingers, hands, arms, or legs or had lost their lives for want of a little ventilation, for want of a safety switch or a guard of some sort.

The simple truth is that these laws, these regulations turned all that around. That is right; they turned all that around. Guess what. They doubled our life expectancy--maybe one of the greatest accomplishments of all time. We went from our grandparents, where life expectancy was 47, to darn near 80--what an incredible accomplishment.

Now, the question is: Do we want to protect that progress? I hope so. Do we? Do we want to pay it forward? Or do we want to turn it back? I should hope not.

Do we really want to paralyze these laws and do away with the rules and regulations that gave us clean water that we can drink and clean air that we can breathe without getting sick? I should hope not. Is that really what we want to do?

Do we want to do away with the healthy, safe working conditions that extended life for people who worked hard to build a life for themselves and their families? Is that what we really want to do? Do we want to do away with food safety that protected us from the drugs and the chemicals that ended our lives prematurely? Is that what we want to do? I should hope not. No. No.

Do we want to do away with the Wall Street regulations, the billionaires who play so fast and loose with other people's money? Well, we sure as heck don't want to turn Social Security and Medicare over to them, do we? Imagine what they would do with Social Security and Medicare. It is devastating, and it is frightening.

Mr. Speaker, my amendment protects both. That is the least we can do. My amendment protects Social Security; it protects Medicare, and that is the least that we can do for a generation that gave us so much.

Last, but not least, had it not been for these regulations, had it not been for Social Security and Medicare, half of us wouldn't be here--that is right--because we increased the life expectancy from 47 to 80, so show some gratitude. Show some being grateful. Let's protect Social Security and Medicare.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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