Congressional Republicans this month attacked the Obama Administration’s proposed “Waters of the U.S.” rule on multiple fronts, attempting to defund the effort through the appropriations process while also offering stand-alone legislation that would roll back this and other regulatory efforts.
The FY15 Energy and Water appropriations bill approved by the House of Representatives this month includes GOP-backed language to permanently block the Army Corps of Engineers from taking steps to “develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce” the Obama Administration’s pending rule to revise the scope of the Clean Water Act. House Republicans subsequently added similar language to an FY15 spending measure for EPA, though congressional Democrats warned these and other divisive amendments would make the spending bills dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate.
The Obama Administration recently extended the public comment period on the proposed rule until October 20, but the GOP amendments would effectively kill the proposal by disallowing the federal government from spending any funds in support of it. Capitol Hill Republicans have warned the “Waters of the U.S.” rule would give the federal government too much authority over isolated waters, while Democrats argue it is necessary to protect wetlands and source waters from pollution.
The issue is affecting the appropriations process in the Senate as well, as Democratic leaders indefinitely postponed a committee markup of that chamber’s Energy and Water spending bill after they became concerned about Republican plans to offer controversial amendments touching on the Clean Water Act and other issues. Similar concerns could prevent the Senate from scheduling an Appropriations Committee markup of its FY15 spending bill to fund EPA. Instead, lawmakers may eventually insert EPA and Army Corps appropriations legislation into a larger omnibus spending package that will likely be necessary to keep the government functioning after the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
Outside of the appropriations process, Republicans have offered a spate of stand-alone bills to block further EPA or Army Corps action on the proposed rule. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this month approved one such measure (H.R. 5078) offered by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) introduced a similar bill in the Senate as S. 2496.
Another bill introduced in the House by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) as the “Stop the EPA Act” (H.R. 5034), would go even further and halt EPA activities on all pending rules until the agency completes a review of the economic impacts of all existing regulations.
While none of these stand-alone proposals have a realistic chance of becoming law in the foreseeable future, they demonstrate the extent to which congressional Republicans are determined to derail the “Waters of the U.S.” proposal.