Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to Revised Definition of Waters of the United States

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I want to thank the chair for presenting his side of the argument.

Now I think we are going to hear the other side of the argument on why taking this rule down will pass today--because of the strong opposition to it.

Today, we are going to have the opportunity to bring a divided Congress together, united in rejecting misguided and unnecessary overreach by the executive branch.

In its attempt to regulate basically anything and everything, the Biden administration, once again, overstepped its boundaries in the Waters of the United States rule, or WOTUS, as we have heard, and they did this this past December. It is the third major change in 8 years. The chairman talked about all of the uncertainty. This is the third change in 8 years to the definition of what ``waters'' are and what is a subject of Federal jurisdiction. With this comes more uncertainty, more redtape, and more government for millions of Americans.

It is clear we need to take action in the face of this burdensome rule, and it is exactly why I have introduced the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that we are about to vote on. So let's take a look at the new rule issued by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

President Biden's new WOTUS rule repeals the 2020 navigable waters protection rule that provided predictability and certainty for our farmers, our ranchers, our miners, our infrastructure workers, our homebuilders, and our landowners such that they can rely on. That 2020 waters rule properly implemented the Clean Water Act by protecting America's waterways through coordination and cooperation between the States and the Federal Government. Who knows their States better than the State regulators?

This new definition, however, drastically expands Federal jurisdiction over streams, wetlands, and private property at the expense of the States and their citizens. It also adopts a subjective ``significant nexus'' test for determining what is and isn't subject to Federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, up to and including dry ditches--it doesn't sound like a navigable water to me--that could fill with rain during a storm event even in the middle of the desert.

To sum it up, the Biden administration's WOTUS rule tells States and individuals that the Federal Government knows best. It is true to form for this administration so we shouldn't be too surprised.

It is also important to note that this is all happening while there is a pending court case at the Supreme Court, right now, that will make many of these same determinations, but they couldn't wait. Of course, they couldn't wait. They had to grow the Federal Government's authority and redesignate waters that had never been designated before.

So let's take a look at the impacts this WOTUS rule would have on farmers and on small businesses.

There are 17,000 small businesses in the small State of West Virginia that will be impacted by this rule and our own ability to build in the future. We should be setting predictable, reliable policy for America's farmers and ranchers. Instead, under the Biden WOTUS rule, if I am a rancher in Arizona or a cattle farmer in Montana or own a family farm in West Virginia, I will literally have less control over my own land. Previously converted cropland and even irrigation ditches may now require a permit under this new regulation.

The American Farm Bureau says:

Farmers and ranchers should not have to hire a team of lawyers and consultants to determine how we can farm our land.

Do you know what will happen? They won't hire the team of lawyers. They just won't farm their own farmland. Yes, that is what millions fear from this new ``waters of the United States'' definition.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture says that this rule will ``significantly increase the regulatory burdens and create further uncertainty for state departments of agriculture, farmers, and ranchers across the country.''

Along with those who live and work in rural America, this rule will target employers of all sizes across our country as well. The National Federation of Independent Business writes that the Biden WOTUS rule will ``make compliance a nightmare for small businesses,'' adding, ``If there was ever a time to not impose additional burdensome regulations, that time is now.''

Often the cornerstone of our communities, small businesses need policies that support, not penalize them.

Our Nation's future depends on our ability to build. That includes transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects of all kinds. President Biden knows that our Nation's broken permitting process threatens to undercut some of our own shared legislative accomplishments on infrastructure investment.

Yet, at a time when we should be streamlining our Nation's permitting and review process, the Biden waters rule makes things worse. It comes at a time when we are trying to build here in America. It will require more people and more projects to seek more Federal permits, which is time and money and doesn't improve the environmental oversight. The environmental oversight is there, but it will cause fear that the EPA will take enforcement action at any given moment with eye-popping fines.

The Associated Builders and Contractors writes that the Biden WOTUS rule will ``cause building delays due to regulatory uncertainty, plus increased permitting and mitigation costs, which will make it more difficult and expensive to grow food, produce energy and build critical infrastructure for the 21st century.''

We have heard our Nation's farmers, small businesses, and our builders loud and clear: President Biden's waters rule is bad policy at an even worse time.

Now, I have been asked what a Congressional Review Act resolution would do, and during a recent Environment and Public Works hearing, this issue came up.

If approved by both Houses of Congress and signed into law, this resolution would overturn the overreaching and expansive WOTUS rule issued in December and return to a narrower and more practical definition that was put in place prior to 2015. You may hear that this will leave waters unprotected. That is simply not true. The regulatory authority for waters that are not navigable nor travel interstate will be returned to the States as Congress intended in the Clean Water Act.

Importantly, my resolution would prevent a substantially similar and overbroad definition from being written again. It would not prevent the EPA and Army Corps from issuing a narrower replacement rule that actually is common sense and addresses stakeholders' and elected officials' concerns and seeks to clarify the status quo.

As you have just heard, States and the regulated community, including farmers and ranchers, have been very clear in their conclusion, and I agree: The Biden final rule on WOTUS is a significant expansion--not a narrowing--of Washington's role in regulating land and waters across the country, and it creates more uncertainty than it cures.

The expansion of Federal authority and the encroachment on States' rights and private lands is the precise reason we have seen overwhelming support for my CRA resolution.

When I introduced this resolution of disapproval, I was proud to do so with our friends and counterparts in the House of Representatives. Led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, the House passed this measure with bipartisan support, including nine Democrat votes. It is important to note that two of these Democrat votes came from the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee and the ranking member of the House Appropriations' Agriculture Subcommittee. These are folks who know the needs of our farmers and rural Americans very, very well and who bravely put the best policy forward ahead of partisan politics. So I thank them for their support in this effort.

It demonstrates, again, that it isn't about party; it is not about party lines. It is about standing up to the needs of those who live and work in rural America. Well, we can stand by them today. We can also give a boost to our future transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects of all kinds across our country.

With this resolution, we are sending a clear message that Congress, even a divided Congress, will defend working Americans in the face of Executive overreach.

With that, I appreciate the support we have received in our effort to place this important check on Executive overreach, and I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on my resolution of disapproval.
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