In a slap in the face to the Bush administration, the U.S. House voted 218 to 189 on Friday to require the White House to stick with the tough standard for arsenic in drinking water set by former President Clinton. Nineteen Republicans supported the measure, which was a direct response to a decision by Bush in March not to move forward with the standard. In a way, Democrats are following in the footsteps of Republicans in trying to advance their agenda. The arsenic measure was a rider on a spending bill for the U.S. EPA. Republicans used similar riders to try to pressure the Clinton administration to make anti-environmental regulatory decisions; Dems are using riders to try to force the Bush administration not to roll back enviro protections.
