OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

Date: July 13, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Operations

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise in support of this amendment offered by my colleague from Georgia. The Constitution grants the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper to Congress, not the executive branch. Yet many executive branch agencies are using sue and settle techniques to circumvent the rulemaking process to enact overly broad and costly regulations, without any input or comment from the public.

One of the worst offenders is the EPA, which has increasingly relied on outside special interest groups to bring lawsuits demanding expanded regulations. And the EPA is all too willing to settle immediately.

My colleague's amendment would restrict the use of taxpayer dollars from paying the legal fees of these outside groups when suing the Federal Government under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, or the Endangered Species Act.

This amendment does not prohibit affected parties from bringing these lawsuits, but restricting agencies' ability to pay attorney fees will reduce the incentive of using lawsuits as a way to expand the power of the executive branch.

Mr. Chairman, I urge all my colleagues to support this amendment.

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