Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Grace F. Napolitano and fifteen other Democratic Committee Members submitted dissenting views in opposition to the Congressional Review Act on the Waters of the United States.
“House Democrats stand for clean water,” the members wrote. “…House Democrats also stand for comprehensive rules that protect our water while providing certainty and predictability to states, businesses, local governments, farmers, hunters and fishers, and American citizens who depend on clean water for their lives and livelihoods.”
The members underscored the uncertainty the CRA will create while also jeopardizing clean water: “This Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, H. J. Res. 27, is the latest attack on clean water in communities all around the country. It will create ambiguity and confusion over protecting the rivers, streams, and other waterbodies that provide drinking water to over 117 million Americans at a time when many states are facing historic droughts. It will hurt efforts to restore protections for rivers, streams, and wetlands gutted by the previous administration. It recklessly ties the hands of federal agencies seeking to provide predictability for farmers and developers while protecting our nation’s water quality and supply. It frustrates state and local efforts to protect locally important waterbodies and creates greater uncertainty and anxiety over future sustainable drinking and agricultural water supplies.”
“This resolution will lessen, not increase, certainty, and will harm national efforts to protect the health of our waterbodies and the communities, businesses, and economy that depend on clean water,” the members concluded. “In our view, this CRA resolution is a big mistake and should be rejected.”
Background:
On February 28th, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a full committee markup to consider H. J. Res. 27, a resolution of disapproval of the Biden Administration’s Clean Water Rule. This Congressional Review Act resolution seeks to undermine the Clean Water Act. It passed out of Committee on a partisan basis.
The full dissenting views can be found here.
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