Ted Yoho: “I stand here today with an urgent plea to my colleagues. We were elected by the good men and women of the United States…”

“I stand here today with an urgent plea to my colleagues. We were elected by the good men and women of the United States who believe in our vision of America and who believe in our dedication to doing whatever it takes to ensure the American Dream is alive and achievable. It is for these reasons the REINS Act must pass. Federal regulations imposed on American the job creators and households, an estimated $1.9 trillion burden in 2015. Who pays that? The American citizen does. It costs on an average, as Chairman Goodlatte brought up, $15,000 per U.S. household. Could that money be better used to offset the cost of a college education or maybe the staggering cost of health care due to the Affordable Care Act? Let me give you a real-life illustration from my district. A couple of years ago, a constituent, a dairy farmer, was targeted by an incredibly vague, broad, and costly EPA rule called WOTUS, Waters of the United States. The EPA sued and won this case not due to environmental damage, but due to the vagueness of this rule and the determination in court. It cost my constituent over $200,000 in fines and court costs for a natural depression in his pasture that the EPA determined could qualify as navigable waters. The rule states that any water or any land that becomes seasonably wet is affected. I live in Florida. We get 54 inches of rain a year. That is my whole State of Florida. This is downright outrageous.…”