Western Caucus Members Speak Out on WOTUS Veto Override

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressional Western Caucus Members urged their House colleagues to vote to overturn President Biden’s veto of H.J. Res. 27, a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) on the Biden Administration’s burdensome and overreaching “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, on the House floor. H.J. Res. 27 passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support before President Biden vetoed the resolution earlier this month.

“This resolution passed in both chambers with a bipartisan vote, yet the President and his administration refused to even consider the devastation this new WOTUS rule, if ultimately left intact by the courts, will cause,” said Rep. David Rouzer (NC-07). “This administration continues to bow down to the demands of radical environmentalists while ignoring the common sense calls to revoke this misguided rule.” Click here to watch his full remarks.

“Here we are again, once again to speak against the Biden Administration's new 'Waters of the United States' rule, this is a bridge too far,” said Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-01). “President Biden is insistent on pushing this regulation through, there are already state and local laws in place to protect our waterways and these entities are much better equipped to oversee small, isolated bodies of water, all this change does is create more red tape for farmers, ranchers, and landowners.” Click here to watch his full remarks.

“What we're talking about today is how much dryland, how much farmland, how much rolling hills, grassy fields with no frogs, no fish, no water most of the year is going to be regulated by this administration,” said Rep. John Duarte (CA-13). “Let's not pretend this is about clean water, this is about government control of land, it's about affordable food, it's about affordable housing, it's about use of our lands by private landowners for economic purposes.” Click here to watch his full remarks.

“I rise today in support of the farmers, ranchers, agricultural producers, and independent oil and gas producers that have been forced to operate their businesses under three different definitions of the word 'water' in the past 10 years alone,” said Rep. Tracey Mann (KS-01). “Congress, not the Executive branch, was created to legislate and it's sad that this particular example of legislating from the Executive branch serves as an outrageous instance of government overreach.” Click here to watch his full remarks.

“President Biden's 'Waters of the United States' rule seeks to insert the federal government into every stream, pond, and ditch in America, even those on private property,” said Rep. Stephanie Bice (OK-05). “It is absolutely unthinkable that a federal bureaucrat from Washington would come on their private property to regulate an intermittent stream that may only have water in it for a few days a year, this is a huge overreach.” Click here to watch her full remarks.

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