Jerry Moran: “This is very important. We talked to the general counsel at the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Goodlatte is wrong on…”

“This is very important. We talked to the general counsel at the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Goodlatte is wrong on this. He says--his amendment says none of the funds may be intended to fund EPA. But his amendment actually doesn't mention EPA. It says no Federal funds period. That means that the farmers, the agribusiness throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, would lose about $100 million in conservation efforts if this amendment were to be approved. The fact is, Mr. Chairman, that miles of the Chesapeake Bay have died, largely because of the fertilizer that washes into the bay. The vegetation at the bottom feeds on that nitrogen, and it grows like it's on steroids. When it decomposes, it sucks up all the oxygen in the water, and as a result, nothing can live in large areas of the Chesapeake Bay--no crabs, no oysters, no fish. Nothing. It's dead, even the plant life can't survive when the oxygen has been so depleted in the process of decomposition. This amendment needs to be defeated.”