WASHINGTON, July 11 -- Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, issued the following floor remarks:

Immediately before Senate Republicans voted to confirm Trump Administration nominee Peter Wright, a former Dow Chemical lawyer, to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) toxic chemical cleanup program, Senator Bob Menendez criticized the appointment of this self-described "dioxin lawyer" who built his career at Dow "by misrepresenting science, downplaying threats to public health, and undermining cleanups." New Jersey contains more Superfund sites than any other state.

Sen. Menendez full remarks:

"I rise today to oppose the nomination of Peter Wright as Assistant Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Land and Emergency Management.

"This position is of enormous consequence to the people of New Jersey, and I refuse to stay silent as the Trump Administration stacks federal agencies charged with protecting our health and our environmental safety with industry insiders and corporate hacks.

"Mr. Wright is a former chemical industry lawyer. If confirmed, he will be charged with overseeing the cleanup of the most toxic waste sites in America through what's known as the Superfund program. New Jersey is home to more Superfund sites than any other state in the nation.

"For many years, a lack of strong environmental protections and oversight left our communities vulnerable to unsafe, unchecked, unregulated pollution. I'm talking about the days before we had an Environmental Protection Agency, before we passed landmark environmental laws, before we had regulations to protect public health.

"Back then, big polluters had a blank check to contaminate our air, soil, and water with toxic chemicals. People across America were exposed to pesticides, lead, asbestos and other toxins through the air they breathed, the rivers they fished, the soil they farmed, and the land they built on. It was unhealthy, it was unsustainable, and in many cases it was downright dangerous.

"Indeed, it was 1980 - the same year a chemical waste facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey burst into flames and forced an entire community to stay indoors - that Congress passed the law creating the Superfund program.

"Today, Superfund is our primary tool for cleaning up the hazardous waste across America. It requires polluters to pay to clean up the sites they've contaminated. And it also funds the cleanup of 'orphan sites' for which the polluters responsible no longer exist.

"The Superfund program is a promise to our communities. A promise to hold polluters accountable for the damage they've done. A promise to rid our soil and water of toxic chemicals. A promise to transform toxic brownfields into safe, livable, usable land. A promise to protect the health of today's families, and of future generations.

"But that promise cannot be kept on its own. We the people must keep that promise. And one way we can do so is by ensuring leaders who oversee the Superfund program are willing to stand up to polluters, listen to the best science and hold big corporations accountable.

"Nothing in Peter Wright's record suggests he will be that kind of leader. He spent nearly two decades as a lawyer for Dow Chemical--one of the primary polluters for many Superfund sites across the nation.

"So for all the President's talk of draining the swamp, it's just that. TALK. Mr. Wright could have been a force for good at Dow. He could have stood up for science and raised standards. He could have pushed for more efficient, thorough cleanups of toxic waste.

"Instead he did just the opposite. Consider Dow's Midland site in Michigan, where more than a century of producing things like Styrofoam, Agent Orange, and mustard gas left rivers contaminated for more than 50 MILES.

"As Dow's self-styled "Dioxin Lawyer," Mr. Wright points to the Midland site as one of his greatest achievements. But a New York Times investigation from last year tells a different story. It found that under Mr. Wright's watch, Dow was accused of 'submitting disputed data, misrepresenting scientific evidence, and delaying cleanup.'

"These accusations were leveled by federal regulators and whistleblowers alike. One independent lab found Dow used incomplete contamination data, leaving the risk of toxins going undetected.

"An internal whistleblower revealed Dow intentionally designed its data so that it couldn't be properly vetted by independent third parties. And in 2007 an EPA memo concluded that Dow had a "documented history of impeding the efforts of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality" at the Midland site.

"But it wasn't only regulators that Mr. Wright misled. The EPA also found that Dow 'frequently provided information to the public that contradicts agency positions and generally accepted scientific information.'

"That included mailing out a newsletter to local residents downplaying the risks of dioxin to human health, which according to the EPA is highly toxic, can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems and damage the immune system. The newsletter even included the false claim that dioxin-contaminated wild game was safe to eat.

"This is appalling.

"Mr. Wright also participated in Dow's funding of a study claiming that people living on dioxin-contaminated soil were not at risk for personal exposure. Simply put, Peter Wright made his mark at Dow Chemical by misrepresenting science, downplaying threats to public health, and undermining cleanups. These practices run counter to the VERY MISSION of the EPA.

"Yet Mr. Wright's past indicates that if confirmed he will continue to mislead communities, continue to delay cleanups, and continue to sacrifice the health of our people for the bottom line of corporate polluters.

"Finally, as if it wasn't enough to mislead the public, we now know that Mr. Wright misled Congress when he lied to the Environment and Public Works Committee about continuing to own stock in Dow after his nomination.

"When I hear that Mr. Wright proudly called himself the 'dioxin lawyer,' when I hear that he misled families about threats to their health, when I hear that he sought to distort scientific evidence and get his company off the hook for their toxic legacy, I worry about the damage he could do across the nation, including in New Jersey.

"New Jersey is home to 114 Superfund sites. That's more than California, a state with four and a half times our population. That's more than double the total sites in Texas, a state with 30 times our land mass.

"Millions of people live within just a few miles of these sites, in North Jersey and South Jersey, in bustling cities and rural towns, in every corner of our state. Among them is one of the largest Superfund cleanups in the country. Like the site in Michigan, New Jersey's Diamond Alkali Superfund site is contaminated with dioxin from the making of Agent Orange. Like the site in Michigan, we have warnings about dioxin-contaminated food, such as seafood from the Passaic River.

"And like those in Michigan, the New Jerseyans who reside by the Passaic are depending on the Superfund program to clean up the river and limit their exposure to toxic chemicals.

"These families - and millions of Americans nationwide - are depending on the EPA to protect the water they drink, the air they breathe, the soil they farm and build on. They are depending on their government to put their health ahead of corporate polluter profits. And today, they are depending ON US to reject the nomination of Peter Wright.

"The EPA has a simple mission: to protect human health and the environment. The American people deserve an Assistant Administrator who believes in that mission - NOT someone who has spent decades fighting it. I urge my colleagues to vote no on Mr. Wright's nomination."

Life insurance application activity closed the year up 22% in December, the MIB Life Index reported, helping 2025 set a record for growth.

Application activity grew 6.8% in one year, 6.7% compared to 2023, and 9.8% compared to 2022, the MIB 2025 Annual Report found. It represented the highest total volume of annual application activity seen in the last 10 years.

Activity followed a steady upward trend throughout the year, MIB reported. The first quarter saw growth of nearly 1%, while the second quarter saw 3% growth. Activity kicked into high gear in the second half of 2025, with 9% growth in the third quarter and more than 15% in the final quarter.

All four quarters of 2025 either matched or outperformed activity in the corresponding quarter for each of the previous four years.

All age bands saw annual year-over-year growth in 2025, with growth rates increasing as age increases, and achieving double-digit growth for ages 61 and above, MIB found. Ages 71 and above led in application growth throughout the year, in the double-digits for all months except for February.

The relative volume of application activity by age group remained flat year over year across all age bands, MIB said. In 2025, the percent of total applications by age band is as follows:

Ages 0-30, down 1.1% over 2024, totaling 22.4%; ages 31-50, down 1% totaling 41.8%; ages 51-60 down 0.1%, totaling 16.3%; ages 61-70 up 0.9%, totaling 12.9%; and ages 71+ up 1.3%, totaling 6.6%.

More than 65% of total applications in 2025 were for amounts up to and including $250,000, MIB reported. With year-over-year growth of 6.7%, this face amount band had “a significant impact on the overall record-breaking results in 2025,” MIB said in a news release.

Term activity booming

Term life was “a key driver” of aggregate record-breaking growth in 2025, MIB said, accounting for more than 52% of total application volume, based on data where product type is submitted to MIB, and with growth of 17.5% over 2024.

Term applications activity saw growth across all age bands, in a pattern where the percentage increased as age bands increased, reaching the double digits for ages 31-70 and triple digits for 71 and above.

In 2025, the percentage of total applications for males at 47.7% outpaced that for females at 45.4%.

LIMRA data on new premium tracks the MIB findings. New annualized premium hitting record highs in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and premium expected to do it again in 2025. But LIMRA’s 2026 forecast suggests that while growth will continue, it will be moderated as consumers’ concern about economic uncertainty increases.

Despite strong demand fundamentals, the economic backdrop entering 2026 looks very different from the conditions that fueled recent growth, LIMRA said.

“LIMRA’s Consumer Sentiment study shows that 52% of Americans are highly concerned about the economy. Inflation remains stubborn, and although easing, it is still above pre pandemic levels,” noted Bryan Hodgens, senior vice president and head of LIMRA Research. “The Federal Reserve has taken a slower than expected approach to lowering interest rates, though stabilization around 3% is anticipated this year. Rising unemployment, meanwhile, is expected to pressure middle market consumers—particularly those shopping for term life.”

Against this backdrop, LIMRA projects overall life insurance new annualized premium to grow between 2% and 6% in 2026, slightly above the historical average of 3.1% but well below the double-digit surge of 2025.

Positive factors

Even with economic headwinds, several forces are expected to support continued expansion. Among them are:

• Private equity will continue to invest in the life insurance industry, providing capital that supports innovation, product development, and long-term growth capacity.
• The industry is shifting from early experimentation with AI to real deployment. Expect to see AI-driven improvements in underwriting, service, sales enablement, and cost efficiency. These enhancements will help carriers scale more effectively and improve the customer experience.
• Better digital experiences and streamlined processes are encouraging more financial professionals to incorporate life insurance into their planning conversations. This expansion — both in channels and in advisor engagement — will be a meaningful growth driver.
• LIMRA research shows there is rising interest in long-term care solutions, and other hybrid insurance solutions will attract broader audiences. Millennials, in particular, are showing strong interest in life insurance products that include long-term care benefits or other living benefits. As healthcare costs rise, combo products are becoming more attractive, broadening the market and appealing to younger demographics.

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