Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. I rise in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, the piece of legislation before us today must be passed and placed on the President's desk as soon as possible if we want to prevent a possible blitz of regulatory burdens on our farmers and ranchers.

The 6-month delay that the EPA was granted by the court this past Monday evening may have bought us more time, but the delay does not fix the underlying problem.

The impact on those pesticide users who will be required to obtain a duplicative permit will be the same in October as it is today. There is no difference in the burden, the cost, or the real impact on their livelihoods. The only thing this extension provides farmers is 6 more months of regulatory uncertainty. We must act now to give our farmers the certainty they need to continue to produce the safest, most affordable, and abundant food supply in the history of the world.

If Congress does not act, more than 40 States will face increased financial and administrative burdens in order to comply with the new permitting requirement process during a time when many States are already being forced to make difficult budget decisions. This would be a crushing blow to an already fragile economy. Giving EPA and the States more time to develop a permit system does nothing to minimize the unnecessary expense this uninformed court decision has imposed.

Governments at all levels are facing a fiscal emergency. This exercise represents a tremendous waste of valuable time and resources. There is no need to send our States down a path of fiscal disaster when we have the opportunity to put a stop to it all today.

It was always the intent of Congress to exempt pesticide use from the Clean Water Act. The decision of the court represents a fundamental ignorance of congressional intent that will not be rectified by a delay. Congress has no choice but to act now.

I would like to serve note that on the Ag Committee as chairman, I'm very pleased with our point person's efforts on this behalf, Subcommittee Chairwoman Jean Schmidt. I'd like to thank our ranking member, Mr. Peterson, of the full committee, and subcommittee ranking member, Mr. Baca, for working with us in a very bipartisan way to address this issue. We all agree something has to be done, something needs to be done, and we have an opportunity to do it.

With that, I encourage my colleagues to vote in support of this legislation.

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