WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement commending the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s new proposed rule to get dangerous lead out of the country’s water drinking systems:
“The Progressive Caucus is thrilled to applaud the new proposed rule from the Biden Administration to get the lead out and ensure clean drinking water for families across the country.
“This new rule will put the United States on track to locate and replace all lead pipes in the next decade, an endeavor that is critical for public health and will create thousands of good-paying, union jobs. It includes strengthened protections for communities that have been particularly impacted by pollution and climate change — often low-income neighborhoods and communities of color whose health and safety have been neglected — in an essential move for environmental justice. The proposal is also the third EPA regulatory action to take on pollution and improve public health following rulemaking on fossil fuel-fired power plants and emissions — all of which the Progressive Caucus advocated for as part of our 2023 Executive Action Agenda.
“We celebrate the tenacity of movement organizing: activists across the country who have fought tirelessly for clean water as a human right and progressives in Congress, including CPC members and Get The Lead Out Caucus co-chairs Representatives Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL) and Representatives Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05).
“I look forward to continuing to work with the Biden administration to advance environmental justice, take climate action, and invest in working families.”
