Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong opposition to this resolution of disapproval. Clean water was not always a partisan issue, and no issue has more support among American families than the protection of our Nation's waters. Now is the worst time to lower our guard on protecting clean water as over half of the United States is experiencing drought conditions. Even though we have had rain, we are still in drought conditions. We need to be doing everything to ensure our cities, our businesses, and our farmers have sufficient, safe, and sustainable supplies of water to meet our economic and agricultural needs, our quality-of-life needs, and our day-to-day survival. This is especially true in my home State of California. As the Metropolitan Water District, the biggest in the area, commented at our subcommittee last month, the definition of WOTUS is central to the Clean Water Act's implementation and has significant implications for water agencies' day-to-day operations and for water source protection efforts. That is why I support the efforts of the Biden administration to permanently repeal the previous administration's dirty water rule, a rule that eliminated Federal protections on a minimum of 75 percent of streams and wetlands that have been protected by the act since its inception. These waters and the wetlands are critical to capturing and storing rain and snowmelt to ensure the long-term supply of water and recharge our underground water aquifers. Mr.…”