Political Quotes

“today I rise in support of Barrasso amendment No. 3453 to the underlying bill. This amendment actually has 36 cosponsors--36 of my fellow colleagues have cosponsored legislation called the Protecting Water and Property Rights Act of 2014, and this legislation is identical to the amendment we have on the floor today. The amendment restricts the expansion of Federal authority by this administration's EPA to encompass all the wet areas on farms, ranches, and suburban homes all across America. More specifically, the amendment eliminates the administration's proposed rule--a rule to implement this expansion of Federal authority, an expansion which I don't think the Federal Government should have or does have. But we do have a recently proposed rule, and through this proposed rule, Federal agencies are attempting to expand the definition of waters of the United States. They want to expand the definition--it is a specific term, waters of the United States--to now include ditches and other dry areas where water does flow, but only flows during a short duration, basically after a rainfall. Federal regulations have never defined ditches and other upland drainage features as waters of the United States. So this is an expansion of the way we view waters of the United States. This proposed rule does and will have a huge impact on farmers, ranchers, and small businesses needing to put a shovel into the ground to make a living.…”