Martin Heinrich: “We are here today because some people want to abuse the Congressional Review Act and use it in a way it has never been…”

“We are here today because some people want to abuse the Congressional Review Act and use it in a way it has never been used before. The Boundary Waters is protected from copper sulfide mining because there was a secretarial order that was put in place, a narrow order authorized by statute under FLPMA--the Federal Land Policy and Management Act--which specifically spells out the Secretary of the Interior's authority to do this. It is not a regulation. The Congressional Review Act was written to prevent regulatory overreach. Regulations are broad. They apply to large swaths of the country. They are not things that are authorized specifically in statute. This has never been done before, and if we do this here, if we do it to the delegation from Minnesota, who has spoken up again and again and again about why this is wrong, what about when it is aimed at Montana? what about when it is aimed at Alaska? what about when it is aimed at South Dakota? This is wrong. And why are we doing it? To pad the pockets of the President's buddy from Chile so that he can take our minerals--our minerals, the American people's minerals--send them to China, process them in China, and then maybe sell them back to the American people with a tariff. This is nuts. Is that 'America First'? That is 'America Last.'”