By proposing these new regulations, the Administration has chosen to ignore the legitimate concerns expressed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, nearly 80 Democratic Members of the House, and several of the President's own Cabinet departments and agencies.

The trivial changes from EPA's original proposal don't even merit the adjective "cosmetic." The fact is that these new standards will still throw hundreds of counties out of compliance on ozone and particulates, exposing them to the loss of highway funds, bureaucratic permit requirements, and other sanctions that will stifle growth and drive existing jobs out.

The most perverse irony is that the standards will actually delay cleaning the air in areas like Washington, D.C., which is currently under an ozone alert. If EPA had chosen to leave the standard unchanged, Washington would have had to come into compliance by 1999. Under the new standard, the city won't have to meet the 1999 deadline and could have until 2009 or longer before being required to meet air quality standards.

The EPA Administrator has already made conflicting promises to different groups concerning the steps needed to meet these new standards. This recalls former Sen. Russell Long's saying on taxes: the EPA Administrator has said to farmers, the steel industry, and even Members of Congress that "We won't tax you, we won't tax me, we'll tax that fellow behind the tree."

This decision unnecessarily complicates and delays the effort to clean the air, and I fully expect the Congress to exercise its Constitutional responsibilities in this matter.