Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Madam Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment.

In recent years, we have seen a sharp increase in a practice called sue and settle. This happens when a Federal agency accepts a lawsuit from an outside advocacy organization and then, rather than defend itself, proceeds to settle that lawsuit in a closed-door agreement, with the end result being new and more costly regulations. If that isn't bad enough, taxpayers are responsible for footing the legal bill for the attorneys of the radical organizations who filed the suit.

My amendment is simple. It prevents American taxpayer dollars from being used to pay the legal fees of outside advocacy groups for settlements under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Litigants can still sue, but they will no longer be financially rewarded by the taxpayers for their efforts. This practice is an abuse of our regulatory process and must be stopped.

Nowhere are these settlements more costly in their outcomes than in the environmental regulatory context. According to the Chamber of Commerce, between January of 2013 and January of 2017, the EPA chose not to defend itself in 77 of these lawsuits with outside environmental advocacy groups. Overall, during the 8 years of the prior administration, the EPA entered into 137 of these settlements. The result of these lawsuits is hundreds of new regulations and tens of millions--even billions--of dollars in compliance costs.

Further, as part of the agreements, agencies are often required to reprioritize their agendas, allocating limited resources to the priorities of these interest groups rather than priorities designated by Congress or ones that have received public and stakeholder input.

The American people are tired of our unaccountable Federal Government, and we have the opportunity to do something about it. This is a simple and necessary step to rein in overregulation and bring transparency back to the regulatory process.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Madam Chair, the sue-and-settle practice cuts stakeholders and the public out of the regulatory process. It undermines the Article I authority we hold here in Congress.

By restricting the payment of legal fees, we protect taxpayer dollars, reduce Federal spending, take away the incentive of these environmental advocacy groups to sue the Federal Government, and protect public input in the rulemaking process.

Madam Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote on my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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