Political Quotes

“I take this time to urge my colleagues to oppose the joint resolution that we will be voting on shortly, to support the Clean Water Act, and to support the clean water rule. I was listening to my colleagues. First, let me say that the basis of the regulation issued by the Environmental Protection Agency is based upon the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act was passed by Congress because Congress recognized that it had a responsibility to the American people for clean water. For public health reasons, for economic reasons, for reasons of generations, we needed to make sure we have clean water supplies for drinking, recreation, public health, and our environment. So the authority to issue this clean water rule comes from an act of Congress. Administrations have been enforcing the Clean Water Act for many years. It was fairly well understood--the waters of the United States-- until there were a couple of Supreme Court cases. The Rapanos case was in 2006. It required further clarification; otherwise, decisions were made on a case-by-case basis, giving great uncertainty as to what is covered and what is not covered. That was a decade ago. Congress could have acted during that decade, but Congress chose not to act. We could have clarified the law and therefore given EPA specific instructions, but instead the uncertainty has remained.…”