Jared Huffman: “This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill before us today will make it harder for the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA to clarify the jurisdictional coverage of the Clean Water Act, leaving watersheds across the country in continued legal limbo. Now, I have visited with ranchers, landowners, and folks from around my district. I understand the anxieties that have been expressed about what the Waters of the United States rulemaking means, but the solution to this situation is to seek tighter definitions and clearer rules, not to prohibit agencies from further developing an important proposal. In particular, I am concerned that H.R. 5078 could have unintended consequences for those who rely on healthy watersheds. We need clarity in the law, so that we can protect water quality for drinking water supplies and for agricultural uses. We are suffering from a historic drought in California, and the current legal mess--the ambiguity of what qualifies as waters of the U.S. under the Clean Water Act--actually makes it harder to know which water bodies are covered by the law. It makes it harder to protect upstream wetlands that reach our groundwater supplies.…”