01.12.16

Ranking Member Grijalva Ahead of Tomorrow’s Clean Water Rule Debate on the House Floor: “This Is Not Serious Work Product”

Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow the House will debate a Republican resolution nullifying the Clean Water Rule proposed last year by the Obama administration, which is currently not in effect due to ongoing litigation. As a result of the ongoing delay, farmers and communities around the country continue to rely on the previously existing Clean Water Act guidance document – an outdated, confusing, and arbitrary regulatory process established by the Bush administration – which even the conservative American Farm Bureau Federation has called “inconsistent” and said has resulted in “increased [regulatory] delays and cost to the public at large.”

Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on tomorrow’s scheduled House debate.

“Last year the Obama administration offered a way forward to support the industries and jobs around the country that depend on clean water. Congressional Republicans have opposed this effort from the beginning, as they have every time a federal agency has sought to strengthen our environmental standards. As I suspect they well know, they would be better off canceling this vote and getting on to other business.

“As with too many House Republican initiatives, tomorrow’s vote represents politics by grand gesture rather than serious work product. President Obama has already promised to veto the resolution, which barely passed the Senate late last year and, as my Republican friends are aware, is nowhere close to having veto-proof support.

“The Obama administration’s rule protects our drinking water supplies and ends the regulatory uncertainty that has allowed unscrupulous polluters to hide in the regulatory shadows. It accomplishes this without creating any new permitting requirements, and it should be allowed to go into effect.

“At some point Republican leaders need to drop the pretense that every environmental standard is an overreach and join the American people in supporting cleaner air, cleaner water, and better conservation standards. This constant screeching and finger-pointing on environmental issues has gotten them nowhere after all these years.

“We know that environmental protection and economic growth are not just compatible – they go hand in hand. For evidence we need look no further than the economic growth our country has sustained since the passage of many of our nation’s bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act. It is past time for House Republicans to change their tune.”

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Media Contact: Adam Sarvana

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