National Sea Grant College Program Amendments Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, Senator Thune was just on the floor talking about Executive overreach. Well, let me tell my colleagues that 2 weeks ago, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a stinging rebuke and a stinging defeat to the Obama administration and to its immigration amnesty plan. There have been a string of stinging defeats for the President's approach of what I believe is an Executive overreach. The courts agree with me. For years, President Obama has been acting as though he believes he has unlimited power to do whatever he wants to do, regardless of what the law of the land says. Now the courts have finally said: Enough is enough.

In this case, President Obama decided that for political purposes, he was going to stop enforcing some of the country's immigration laws. Twenty-six States said that was outrageous and they filed a lawsuit.

It is the President's job to enforce the laws of the United States, and the law is very clear. The law is clear when it comes to immigration, and the President deciding to change it basically says he is willing to ignore the law, because he didn't come to Congress to get it changed, he decided to do it with regulation alone. The courts have said it is not the President's call, and they have now blocked the President's amnesty plan.

During an event in 2013, the President actually seemed to understand that he was just one part of America's Government. He said: ``The problem is that I'm the President of the United States, I'm not the emperor of the United States.'' He went on to say: ``My job is to execute the laws that are passed.'' He understood at that time that it was his job--at least he understood it in 2013. So what happened between then and now?

If the President says, as he did, ``I'm not the emperor,'' why is it that it seems that almost every action he takes seems to show that he wants to act as if he is the emperor? Time after time, he has shown that he considers himself above the law. We know he doesn't like to deal with Congress--not with Republicans or with Democrats; he likes to ignore Congress--and he doesn't like having to deal with the courts, so he tries to pack them full of people who will rule the way he tells them to rule. We saw that when Harry Reid changed the rules of the Senate. It seems the President doesn't like to listen to the voters, either, so he goes ahead and does what he wants to do no matter what the American people say they want.

This case last month is not the first time a Federal court has said that President Obama acted above the law or even against the law. Last June, the Supreme Court struck down a regulation that was a big part of the Obama administration's War on Coal. The Supreme Court said that the Washington bureaucrats who wrote this rule never even considered the overwhelming costs--this is the Supreme Court saying this--never even considered the overwhelming costs that they were imposing on hard- working American families. The President never even considered that. The Court said: ``One would not say that it is even rational''--the President's actions weren't even rational--``never mind appropriate, to impose billions of dollars in economic costs in return for a few dollars in health and environmental benefits.'' The Supreme Court told President Obama that he is the President of the United States, not the emperor of the United States.

Then look what happened last October. Another court, a U.S. appeals court, blocked the Obama administration's new regulation that vastly expanded the definition of ``waters of the United States.'' The Environmental Protection Agency wanted to give itself control over all the waters--all of them, including huge chunks of private property in this country, including farms and ranches--and do it by taking control of isolated ponds, prairie potholes, and irrigation ditches--all of these little areas the government can take control of, and they control the land. What did the appeals court do? The appeals court stepped in and stopped the administration's actions because of what it called ``the sheer breadth of the ripple effects caused by the rule.'' This appeals court told President Obama that he is the President of the United States, he is not the emperor.

That is the same thing the Supreme Court told President Obama back in February. The Supreme Court stopped another EPA rule over carbon dioxide emissions from existing powerplants--powerplants that have been there and are functioning. Just like the so-called waters of the United States rule, the Court said that the administration could not just go ahead and do whatever it wanted to do. The rule could do so much damage that the Court said they had to stop the President in his tracks.

The Supreme Court said that it was skeptical anytime a Washington agency claims to suddenly find broad powers. And that is what has been happening now--the Washington agency is going back to old laws and finding new broad powers that have been in law and that have been on the books and functioning for a long time. The Supreme Court said they are very skeptical of an administration that does that.

The Court said: ``We expect Congress to speak clearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of vast economic and political significance.'' Well, Congress never did that with carbon dioxide. The Obama administration just made it up, and the Supreme Court told the President that he is the President of the United States, not the emperor.

In May, the Supreme Court issued another decision to stop the Obama administration from taking away people's rights--the rights to use their own land. This had to do with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers taking control of private land. The Obama administration went so far overboard that they said people shouldn't even be allowed to challenge the Obama administration's decisions in court. I mean, can my colleagues imagine that? The Obama administration went so far overboard that they said people shouldn't be allowed to challenge the Obama administration's decisions in court. This President doesn't want Congress to have any say in what he does, and now he doesn't even want the courts to have a say in what he does. American families shouldn't have to fight Washington just to use their own property. They certainly shouldn't have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.

Amazingly, this was a unanimous decision against the President by the Supreme Court. Even the most liberal Justices voted against the President on this issue, to show how much Executive overreach we are dealing with. The Supreme Court told the President once again that he is the President of the United States, not the emperor of the United States.

It has been one case after another saying the exact same thing.

I wish to give one final example of this string of stinging defeats for President Obama. Last month, the U.S. district court in Wyoming shut down President Obama's latest attempt to stop American energy production. It had to do with regulations on hydraulic fracturing on land controlled by Washington and by Indian tribes. The judge in this case said the administration had no authority whatsoever to issue the regulation in the first place. This was a judge appointed by President Obama. The judge wrote that ``Congress has not directed the [administration] to enact regulations governing hydraulic fracturing.'' The judge went on to say: ``Indeed, Congress has expressly removed federal agency authority to regulate the activity, making its intent clear.'' The judge said Congress made it clear. The President wanted to ignore it. The court told President Obama definitely and definitively that he is the President of the United States, not the emperor of the United States.

There have been six different court decisions in the past year, and all of them have been against the President. Even the Justices that he handpicked for the Supreme Court are refusing to play along with all of his power grab and his illegal overreach.

The American people are no longer buying the President's excuses and his promises. Back in January the White House Chief of Staff promised that the Obama administration--and I was astonished when I saw this on television, saw a video of it, saw it again, listened to it again. The White House Chief of Staff promised that the Obama administration is going to in this final year--this eighth year of his administration-- have a year of audacious Executive action. There is going to be audacious Executive action in the President's last year in office.

It is time for the President and his staff to rethink their plan. They should recognize that they do not have the legal support or the popular support for all of the regulations and all of their illegal action.

The President is not an emperor, although he may think that he is. It is time for him to recognize this fact. It is time for the President of the United States to do the job he was elected to do and to follow and to obey the law of the land.

Thank you, Madam President.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source