Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, on the last day of the Obama- Biden administration, Fish and Wildlife issued a ``Director's Order'' setting in place an almost total ban on lead ammunition and tackle on Federal lands.

While Fish and Wildlife claimed that the rule was based on science, we know clearly it was not. The decision by the Obama-Biden administration was made solely to limit access to public land of sportsmen and fishermen.

As soon as I was made aware of this midnight rule, I worked with the incoming Trump administration to get it overturned. Fortunately, President Trump acted quickly to undo this disastrous order. And since then he has only taken steps to increase access to public lands for sportsmen and fishermen alike.

Since President Trump's actions, Congress has taken additional steps to prevent the regulation of ammunition and tackle for sportsmen. Unfortunately, Democrats have decided to abandon the precedent.

My amendment simply reinstates a policy that Congress has carried in a bipartisan fashion for the past several years and continues support for the rights of sportsmen to access public land for recreational purposes.

I urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, waters of the U.S., social cost of carbon, the Clean Power Plan rules, these are just a few of the crushing regulations issued by the Obama-Biden Presidency.

During the Obama-Biden administration, the EPA issued nearly 4,000 regulations. These rules totaled tens of thousands of pages in Federal regulations and billions of dollars in compliance costs. The families, farmers, and small businesses of Missouri could not keep up.

Thankfully, since taking office, President Trump has kept his promise to deliver regulatory relief to the American people. He has removed seven regulations for every new one added, saving households thousands of dollars a year in regulatory costs.

The other side would have you believe that reining in the EPA by reducing funding leads to dirtier air and dirtier water when, in fact, the opposite is the case. Under President Trump, emissions have fallen in every major category and overall have dropped 7 percent since 2017. Right now, we have the cleanest air since 1970. That is 50 years.

Democrats want to take us back to Obama-Biden era spending policies with this funding bill, which breaks the recently agreed to spending caps and returns us to the regulatory machine of the prior administration that harms small businesses and family farmers. But the American people are not interested in returning to the increased costs and overregulation of that administration.

My amendment simply reduces funding for the EPA to reflect President Trump's budget request.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, more money is not always the answer. The right policies, efficiency, is the answer.

As I said earlier, for the first time in 50 years, under Trump's policies and Trump's spending, we have the cleanest air since 1970.

I am not sure why the majority is concerned about cutting funding for the EPA when they have included $13 billion in additional emergency funding in this bill for the EPA alone.

My amendment is not about preventing the EPA from doing its job. It is about ensuring that the EPA does the job we gave it to do and nothing else.

Now is not the time to return to the spending habits and overregulation of the Obama-Biden era. If this funding amount is good enough for the President, it is good enough for me.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, once again, I rise to advocate in favor of the fiscal sanity of the Trump administration.

Just like my last amendment, this amendment prevents the Democrats from taking us back to the Obama-Biden era policies of overregulation and overspending.

The Obama-Biden EPA brought us thousands of new regulations, tens of thousands of new pages in the Federal Register, and billions in compliance costs for American farmers, small businesses, and families, much of this backed by flawed research with a political agenda.

The Office of Science and Technology aids in the regulatory process and is responsible for the faulty research that led to costly regulations like the social cost of carbon and the Clean Power Plan.

The American people need transparent research without an agenda. They don't need Obama-Biden era regulations and spending policies.

The amendment, once again, simply reduces funding for the EPA to reflect President Trump's budget request.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, if you listen to my Democrat colleagues, you would think the EPA could not go on without this funding that we are trying to reduce. It is about being efficient.

This administration, as I had said earlier, under President Trump, emissions have fallen in every major category and overall have dropped 7 percent since 2017. Right now, we have the cleanest air since 1970.

Throwing money at an issue you care about is not the solution. Being efficient in government is the solution, and that is what the Trump EPA has done.

So they have asked for this particular amount of money, and I am making sure that we are giving the EPA what they need, not busting the spending caps which were agreed to by Republicans and Democrats by their current proposal.

Let's keep the spending caps. Let's adopt my amendment.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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