Update from chemicalwatch.com (December 3 2015)
Udall says TSCA reform can still be passed this year
Senator working with other supporters to 'find a path forward'
3 December 2015 / Substance registration & inventories
With less then two weeks left in the legislative calendar, supporters of the Senate bill to update the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) are still hopeful of passage of the measure, this year.
After the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the Udall-Vitter bill in April by a 15-5 vote, Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), co-author of the measure, made two unsuccessful attempts in October to get unanimous consent to the bring the bill (S 697) to the Senate floor, without extraneous amendments
(CW 22 October 2015) and (
CW 29 October 2015).
On each occasion, he was thwarted by Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), who insisted on attaching an amendment, relating to the reauthorisation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
"We still have time to pass chemical safety reform by the end of the year, and I'm working very hard, along with several other senators, to find a path forward,” Mr Udall told
Chemical Watch. “Well over 60 senators support bipartisan chemical safety reform, and we can get this done if we keep our shoulder to the wheel.”
Senator David Vitter, who co-authored the bill with Mr Udall, told
Chemical Watch that he has “complete confidence that the Senate will soon dismiss inconsequential distractions in order to schedule, vote on, and pass the majorly bipartisan bill ... within a very short time period, launching the United States toward substantially updating and reforming the outdated TSCA with historic support."
Representative John Shimkus (R-Illinois), who spearheaded the TSCA reform bill in the House, pointed out that his bill passed by a 398-1 vote and added that “the Senate bill has broad, bipartisan support as well. After the Senate works through its process, I remain optimistic that we can come together to resolve our policy differences and get TSCA reform signed into law this Congress.”
Mr Shimkus chairs the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy.
Dinesh Kumar
