Providing for Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency

Floor Speech

Mrs. ERNST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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Mrs. ERNST. I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 minutes on the joint resolution that is before us.

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Mrs. ERNST. Mr. President, we have a choice today to stand with our farmers, ranchers, small businesses, manufacturers, and homebuilders, or stand with an overreaching Federal agency pushing an illegal rule greatly expanding its power. That is an easy choice for me. I am standing with my constituents. I am standing with Iowans.

Rolling back this harmful WOTUS rule is hugely important to my State and, I know, to many others. I especially wish to thank the junior Senator from Wyoming and the senior Senator from Oklahoma for all their hard work on this issue. I also wish to thank those from the other side of the aisle who recognize the harm this rule will have and are supporting this bipartisan effort to halt an expanded WOTUS.

I am proud to stand with them and all of my other colleagues who have decided to act today to push back against yet another power grab by the EPA. This is what the American people expect. They expect us to take the votes and debate the issues of the day, not simply put in writing how we may do our job tomorrow when it is more convenient or wait for the courts to solve a clear problem.

Every community wants to have clean water and to protect our Nation's waterways. No one is disputing that. I grew up on well water. I understand that clean water is essential, but that is not what this vote today is about.

To build on what the junior Senator from North Dakota, my colleague from across the aisle, said yesterday, to suggest that 31 States, agricultural groups, the Association of Counties, our Governors, municipalities--that we are all wrong is absolutely insulting.

Look at this grass waterway behind me. This is from Iowa. This was taken by one of my staff members as he was out on RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. This is what we are debating. This is what the rule is about. Should Washington, DC, bureaucrats control the land in this farmer's field? The clear answer is no, they should not.

As so many of my colleagues mentioned yesterday and this morning, this confusing WOTUS rule threatens the livelihoods of rural communities and middle-class Americans. It threatens to impede small businesses and manufacturing. It impacts middle-class Americans. These people are the backbone of this country. How can these industries flourish when under this rule they will be faced with excessive permitting requirements that will delay future projects and conservation efforts? They can't.

Yesterday we saw many of our colleagues across the aisle block a commonsense bipartisan measure designed to stop the harmful impacts of this rule. They claimed this rule is grounded in science and the law. Science and the law? Really? The Army Corps' memos show that the science was blatantly ignored by the EPA in favor of politics, and two Federal courts have already called into serious question the legality of this WOTUS rule and the science behind it.

This claim is in spite of the fact that Members on the other side voted for Senator Barrasso's legislation yesterday. This is in spite of the fact that Members of the other side also support this legislation, and this is in spite of the fact that 11 Democrats sent a letter to the EPA yesterday stating their concern over serious issues with this rule. Yet this administration continues to unilaterally enforce its harmful agenda on the American people.

We must take a stand, put our constituents first, put American jobs first, and say: No more, Mr. President. It is time to put politics and ideology aside and start listening to the commonsense voices of the American people. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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