????弗吉尼亞州民主黨參議員馬克?華納參與起草了參議院的補充法案，他的女發(fā)言人拒絕就此回答問題，只向我們提供了之前的新聞稿。華納在新聞通稿中表示，該法案的通過意味著“更多的弗吉尼亞人將不需要去經(jīng)歷類似的夢魘?！?/p>

????就連第一個提出這項法案的里格爾說到此事也吞吞吐吐。本刊曾要求他就此發(fā)表評論，但里格爾的辦公室沒有做出答復。

????只有佛羅里達州民主黨參議員比爾?內爾森表示，許多議員都覺得通過點兒什么比根本沒有就此立法強。內爾森的發(fā)言人布萊恩?格利說：“這項法案不夠完善，但這是當前環(huán)境下我們能爭取到的最好結果。我們不能讓這些公司置身事外，我們得繼續(xù)對中國企業(yè)施壓。而這項法案就是我們施壓的途徑?！?/p>

????此外，對于新法案指定的ASTM委員會能否停止內耗并消除利益沖突，福爾曼的看法并不樂觀。對此他應該心知肚明，因為他就是該工作組的成員。

????ASTM制定過數(shù)千種建筑產(chǎn)品的標準。福爾曼說，這個組織當初可以把毒石膏板問題交給其他下屬機構來解決。ASTM內部設有空氣質量問題、環(huán)境危險、強腐蝕性及有害化工產(chǎn)品等諸多委員會。

????但它決定讓包括了諸多石膏板制造廠家在內的石膏板行業(yè)委員會來給自己的產(chǎn)品挑毛病。福爾曼說：“我覺得這是個錯誤。這個問題在政界成了燙手山芋。但我們沒辦法回到過去，也沒辦法改變歷史，所以只能走一步說一步?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng)）

????譯者：鄭濤

????A spokeswoman for Sen. Marker Warner (D-Va.), who was also involved in drafting the Senate substitute bill, declined to answer questions on the record. She instead only provided the previous news release, where Warner said the bill's passage means "more Virginians will not have to go through similar nightmares."

????Even Rigell himself, the Virginia Beach congressman who first introduced the legislation, was reluctant to talk. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

????A spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said only that many lawmakers felt passing something was better than no drywall legislation at all. "It's not a perfect bill, but it's the best we could do under the circumstances," said Nelson spokesman Bryan Gulley. "We can't let these companies off the hook, we've got to keep the heat up on the Chinese. So this bill is a way of keeping up that pressure."

????Meanwhile, Foreman, the construction consultant, is not optimistic that the ASTM drywall committee designated by the new law can overcome its in-fighting and conflicts of interest. He would know: he sits on the committee.

????Foreman said that early on, ASTM – which develops a range of standards for thousands of building products – could have assigned the contaminated drywall issue to another working group. ASTM has committees that deal with air quality issues, with environmental hazards, with caustic or damaging chemicals, among others.

????But the organization decided to let the drywall committee – which includes numerous drywall manufacturers themselves – attempt to identify the flaws in their own product.

????"That was a mistake, I feel. It became a political hot potato," Foreman said. "But we can't go back and rewrite history, so we are where we are."