Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues--the Senators from Missouri, North Dakota, and Wyoming--for their colloquy. This is a big deal, not just for those of us from these States but for all Americans. We have a choice today. We do have a choice. We can stand with our farmers, our ranchers, our small businessmen, our manufacturers, our homebuilders, or we can stand with an overreaching Federal agency that is committed to expanding its reach to over 97 percent of our lands in Iowa and, as my colleague from Missouri stated, 99.7 percent of the land in Missouri. I know what I am going to do. I am going to stand with my constituents. I am going to stand with Iowans who have told me time and again that their voices were not heard in this process and that their livelihoods are being threatened. Instead of listening to those who will be most impacted by this rule, the EPA thought it would be better to use taxpayer dollars to illegally solicit comments in an effort to falsely justify their power grab. A little over a week ago, President Obama, in his State of the Union Address, pledged a willingness to work with Congress on cutting redtape. This bipartisan legislation presented a great opportunity to do just that, but instead he sided with unelected bureaucrats and an unchecked Federal agency. So apparently he must have already forgotten what he had said.…
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Thank you, Senator Rosen. Joining our colloquy now is the senior Senator from Maryland, Ben Cardin. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. President, thank you to my colleague from Oklahoma, Senator James Lankford, for arranging today's event. Mr. President, a winter storm shut down the Nation's Capital this week, but did anyone notice? Essential government employees…
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