Story of a Bill: TSCA
This is the story of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, as told by the bill's own diary!
I chose to research the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) because it is so closely related to my lobbying project, which focuses on legislation that, if passed, would replace TSCA. I expected that a deep understanding of the history of TSCA would help me argue for the Clean Chemicals Act of 2011.
TSCA started as an idea by the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and six years later it finally became a law. My research illuminated the many ways in which a bill can fail – because TSCA encountered or almost encountered plenty of failures. It was edited from its original version before it even went to Congress, died in conference committee several times, and was almost subject to a pocket veto. I imagined that TSCA's progression from idea to law would be difficult because of the chemical industries, but was impressed at the scope of the difficulties. Despite all these obstacles, the environmental groups and the concerns of citizens still got the bill through Congress eventually.
The most difficult part of this project for me was how much general information I found. I didn't know what to do with all of it, or how to find more specific facts about moments in the process. I was able to fix this problem by coming up with a method of presentation that restricted what I the information I needed. I chose the format of diary partly because of the specific information it would require (like particular dates and that kind of thing). I also chose the format because it allowed me to highlight the particular failures and accomplishments of TSCA by making up emotions for the bill itself. I had a lot of fun personifying TSCA.
If I had to do this project again, I think I would add in information about other bills, contemporaries of TSCA. There were many bills related to the Toxic Substances Control Act that were in Congress at the same time, and I'd love to explore what TSCA would have thought of those bills and their successes and failures.
I chose to research the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) because it is so closely related to my lobbying project, which focuses on legislation that, if passed, would replace TSCA. I expected that a deep understanding of the history of TSCA would help me argue for the Clean Chemicals Act of 2011.
TSCA started as an idea by the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and six years later it finally became a law. My research illuminated the many ways in which a bill can fail – because TSCA encountered or almost encountered plenty of failures. It was edited from its original version before it even went to Congress, died in conference committee several times, and was almost subject to a pocket veto. I imagined that TSCA's progression from idea to law would be difficult because of the chemical industries, but was impressed at the scope of the difficulties. Despite all these obstacles, the environmental groups and the concerns of citizens still got the bill through Congress eventually.
The most difficult part of this project for me was how much general information I found. I didn't know what to do with all of it, or how to find more specific facts about moments in the process. I was able to fix this problem by coming up with a method of presentation that restricted what I the information I needed. I chose the format of diary partly because of the specific information it would require (like particular dates and that kind of thing). I also chose the format because it allowed me to highlight the particular failures and accomplishments of TSCA by making up emotions for the bill itself. I had a lot of fun personifying TSCA.
If I had to do this project again, I think I would add in information about other bills, contemporaries of TSCA. There were many bills related to the Toxic Substances Control Act that were in Congress at the same time, and I'd love to explore what TSCA would have thought of those bills and their successes and failures.
Comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Log in to post a comment.