Rick Larsen: “Our predecessors in Congress worked in a bipartisan manner to enact the Clean Water Act, one of the Nation's bedrock…”

“Our predecessors in Congress worked in a bipartisan manner to enact the Clean Water Act, one of the Nation's bedrock environmental laws. The legislation before us today was not developed in that same bipartisan manner, and it undermines the Clean Water Act. I oppose this bill. The pro-clean water bipartisan consensus has held firm for decades, allowing communities to enjoy cleaner water and giving businesses the certainty they need to create jobs and spur economic growth. Thanks to historic investments like the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, our economy is on the move. We have added nearly 15 million jobs since President Biden took office, and unemployment has been under 4 percent for the longest stretch in more than 50 years. Wages are up; inflation is coming down; and we are growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up. That is the context in which our colleagues are proposing to shatter this bipartisan consensus around clean water since the passage of the Clean Water Act. This bill will not improve Clean Water Act project permitting or create certainty. In fact, it does the opposite. According to the Statement of Administration Policy, this bill will ``undermine ongoing, bipartisan efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure permitting processes.'' The SAP further confirms the bill will ``create uncertainty, confusion, and conflict in permitting processes.'' What will this bill achieve?…”