Providing for Consideration of H.R. Prohibiting the Transfer of Any Detainee At United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and the underlying legislation, H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act. In recent years, a disturbing trend has emerged among Federal agencies. In a number of instances, Federal agencies have used taxpayer dollars to fund public communication campaigns attempting to lobby for agency regulations. Despite multiple Federal laws explicitly prohibiting this, agencies continue to ignore these laws and use taxpayer dollars to lobby on the very regulations their agencies are developing.

Several months ago, in my own home State of Washington, a campaign known as What's Upstream came to light. I would like to point your attention to this poster. Through this broad and unfair ad campaign, all farmers were demonized as careless polluters. What's Upstream used billboards, bus and radio ads, and a visually assaulting Web site depicting dead fish and polluted water to encourage private citizens to contact their State legislators and push for stricter regulations on farmers. It is also important to note that it has been discovered that these images were not even from the State of Washington.

As a lifelong farmer myself, who has seen firsthand the remarkable proactive steps farmers have taken to protect our resources, I was insulted by the blatant lies this campaign has spread about farmers. What is probably more insulting, though, can be seen by these pictures of the What's Upstream Web site. What's Upstream encouraged site visitors to send messages to ``Washington State Senators whose votes we hope to influence.'' This is lobbying in the truest sense of the word. The real kicker is when you scroll down to the bottom of the page to see who it was funded by: ``This message has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.''

Now, just stop and think about that for just a second. Your hard- earned taxpayer dollars are being used by the EPA to lie about farmers and then to lobby State legislators to put in place stricter regulations against farmers. It is unconscionable, and it violates the law.

Earlier this year, I was proud to colead a letter with my friend from Nebraska, Congressman Ashford, to EPA Administrator McCarthy expressing outrage and demanding an investigation into this campaign. I was honored to have 145 House Members--fully one-third of the entire body-- join us on that letter demanding accountability.

This campaign exposed us to a very real need for grant and lobbying reform, which H.R. 5226 takes a good first step in bringing. By requiring all executive agencies to disclose their public communications, it will help bring transparency to agency communications and ensures that these types of activities cannot hide or go unnoticed. While future steps may be necessary, I was proud to work with Congressman Walberg to introduce this legislation, and I thank him for his leadership on this issue.

Our agricultural community and the American taxpayers deserve accountability, and I look forward to continuing to work for this bill's enactment.

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