Held by a house to oversight subcommittee, this is an hour and a half. All right, good morning, everyone. And welcome to our hearing in oversight and information subcommittee on energy and commerce. Finish the subcommittee convenes its hearing today to examine unimplemented recommendations by the Environmental Protection agencys office of Inspector General and Government Accountability office. Acting on these recommendations would improve epas ability to carry out its core mission. Protecting human health and the environment. This mission is never more important than during times of National Disaster Natural Disaster like the one in the gulf coast or experiencing right now in Hurricane Harvey or about to hit with another hurricane in the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee i want to express my son sincere sorry to everyone impacted by the storm. Hurricane harvey is one of the worst National Disasters the United States has ever faced, and its still too early to tell
Coast is experiencing now with harvey and about to hit with another hurricane in the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee, i want to express my sincere sorrow to everyone impacted by the storm. Harvey is one of the worst National Disasters the United States has ever faced and is still too early to tell the full extent of the devastations that has displaced thousands of people. Members of this committee on both sides of the aisle represent constituents experiencing loss and destruction from the storm and our thoughts and prayers are with these families as they begin to rebuild their lives from this national tragedy. During the storm and in the aftermath, epa continues to play a Critical Role in the federal response to harvey. While epa is still in the midst of initial response efforts, its work has only just begun. We look forward to monitoring the agencys response to the disaster and learn the full extent of the Environmental Impact and challenges that lie ahead. The
Review acting on these recommendations would improve epas ability to carry out its core mission, protecting human health and environment. This mission is never more important than during times of Natural Disaster like the one in the gulf coast experiencing right now in Hurricane Harvey about to hit with another hurricane on the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee, i want to express my sincere sorrow to everyone impacted by the storm. Hurricane harvey is one of the worst Natural Disasters the United States has ever face. And its still too early to tell the extent of the devastation that has displaced thousands of people. Members of this committee and both sides ofale represent constituents and our thoughts and prayers are with these families as they begin to rebuild their lives from this national tragedy. While epa is still in the midst of initial response efforts, its work has only just begun. We look forward to monitoring the extent of the disaster and working on t
So personal savings can only go so far for these individuals. At the same time though Social Security treat single women far less well than it does married women so they are not getting much help from that end of things either. Thats one reason i and others have proposed reforming Social Security to provide a flat universal benefit for all retirees regardless of income participation. On top of that individual would save in accounts provided through their employer or of not available through the government. This approach is qualitatively similar to that of the u. K. Australia canada and new zealand. In the u. S. Context you can affordably reduce the elderly poverty rate from todays level of roughly 9 to approximately 0 while increasing the Retirement Savings among the middle and high highincome workers who truly should be saving more. The lesson in all this is that there is no simple problem and no simple solution but a small if more complex problem is better in the retirement crisi cri
The two remaining witnesses on the panels are noshow. They were invited, accepted the invitations and confirmed them of their attendance and we informed them the hearing will proceed so it is unfutunate they have chosen not to chose this official hearing. We will go ahead with the witnesses who did proceed. Thank you very much for coming down from rhode island for this hearing. Thank you. It as a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I am an associate professor at the Brown University center for health. I earned by doctorate from ha r hararharava harvard. Shortterm ozone exposure and health effects. This is based on studies over decades and showing that ozone leads to increased deaths, hospital visits, increased symptoms and more medical use and reduced air function and reduced air levels. A 2010 study by the scientist at emory found in the atlanta area, ozone was linked to higher rates of hospital visits for asthma even at levels below the current standa