Boxer close to deal with Senate TSCA bill’s sponsors

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) is close to a deal with the sponsors of the Udall-Vittter TSCA reform bill (S 697) that would allow it to proceed on the Senate floor, according to well-placed Senate sources. The measure is expected to be taken up for floor consideration in the next few days. However, it is not yet known which issues Ms Boxer, a strident critic of the bill, is seeking changes on in exchange for her support. In June, she had vowed to complicate passage of the Udall-Vitter bill if it was taken up instead of a parallel bill passed by the House. Some of Ms Boxer’s principal concerns with the Senate bill have been about provisions that would pre-empt state action on chemicals. Ms Boxer is the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which passed the bill in April. The House overwhelmingly passed its own version of TSCA reform in June. Her support for the Udall-Vitter bill would ease passage of the measure out of the Senate. The bill now has 56 cosponsors, 23 of them Democrats, in the 100-member chamber.

Chemical Watch, 1 October 2015 ;http://chemicalwatch.com ;