Senate Republicans are pelting a noncontroversial small business aid bill with a variety of awful amendments that have nothing to do with small business. The amendments leave no stone unturned, attacking environmental and consumer protections, health care, and a wide range of government programs that impact Americans’ everyday lives.

As usual, congressional Republicans are attempting to savage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its efforts to protect public health. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is offering an amendment that would completely strip the EPA of its Clean Air Act authority with respect to carbon pollution, in perpetuity. Taking his lead from the House, McConnell is thumbing his nose at both the Supreme Court and the American public. An alternative amendment offered by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) would limit the EPA’s authority as well, but only on stationary sources and only for two years.

Another amendment, offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY…what’s with Kentucky?), would slash spending by $200 billion across virtually every government agency. Paul’s amendment would also abolish the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Apparently, Paul does not think that 2007, the year of the recall, was bad enough and would like to make our homes as unsafe as possible.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is looking to deliver a serious blow to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with her amendment that would delay implementation of the bill until the law works its way through the maze of court challenges the anti-healthcare crowd has lodged against it. Hutchison knows that process could take years, leaving millions exposed to the cold reality of no insurance and underinsurance.

The most innocuous sounding, but perhaps most troubling, is an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that would set up a commission of eight politicians to identify government programs for termination. The report of the so-called Sunset Commission would be fast-tracked through Congress, leaving lawmakers with little time and a lone vote to determine the fate of one or more programs covering everything from poverty and housing to education and research to transportation and infrastructure.

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards issued a statement yesterday opposing the Sunset Commission amendment. Read the statement here.