Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, much like the previous discussion, our amendment would simply strike section 110. As it stands, section 110 would prevent the implementation of the Clean Water Rule. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers adopted the Clean Water Rule following a lengthy and inclusive public rulemaking process. It restores the Clean Water Act protections to streams, wetlands, and other important waters of the United States. Without the Clean Water Rule, the streams that provide drinking water systems serving one in three Americans will remain at risk. Almost everyone agreed that clarity was needed in light of the Supreme Court rulings in 2001 and 2006 that interpreted the regulatory scope of the Clean Water Act more narrowly than the agencies and lower courts. Those cases created uncertainty about the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act. Calls for EPA to issue a rule even came from such organizations as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Western Business Roundtable, and the National Association of Manufacturers. Prohibiting the EPA from implementing this rule, as section 110 would direct, would perpetrate this confusion. There are countless cases to reiterate this point.…”