On the recordJuly 17, 2018
I certainly respect the opinion of the chair, but I do take issue with the notion that it is a misguided WOTUS rule. There were 1 million comments, 400 meetings, and I served on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and National Resources Committee in the last 2 years of the Obama administration when EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy came to us and said that after the original publication of the intended new clean water rule, there was so much feedback that she went back to the drawing board for another year of hearings and comments to address the many concerns that were raised by farmers, cattlemen, and others, most of which were resolved at the time. Mr. Chair, I respect the notion that a new administration has the right to go through the same process, the same hearings, and the same public comment to modify the rule to evolve it as we move forward. But to just throw out the old rule by a rider to an appropriations bill, seems the wrong way to make law, the wrong way to govern. Mr. Chair, I encourage my few colleagues here at a little bit before midnight to vote ``yes'' on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
