Political Quotes

“I must strongly oppose this motion to recommit because it basically aims to gut the underlying bill. The purpose of H.R. 5078 is to uphold the Federal-State partnership in regulating the Nation's waters by maintaining a balance between the States and the Federal Government in carrying out the Clean Water Act. H.R. 5078 restricts the administration's current administrative efforts to expand Federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act, and requires the agencies to engage in a federalism consultation with the State and local government partners in implementing the Clean Water Act. However, this motion is designed to undermine the legislation by giving the EPA unfettered discretion in making State water quality determinations in order to allow the administration to continue implementing its flawed rule. In effect, the amendment says that the underlying bill will not apply virtually anywhere the EPA decides that the bill should not apply. This amendment would further erode the Federal and State partnership that H.R. 5078 seeks to preserve. I would urge all 435 Members of this body to take notice. This is another attempt by the executive branch to take Congress' constitutional authority away from us. We should all take this as a serious challenge to us. For too long, this body has allowed the executive branch to take our authority granted to us by the Constitution. I say whether it is a Republican or a Democrat administration, we have to stop that. This bill, H.R.…”