[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 23, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

            By Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania:
       H.R. 4859.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Congress has the authority to regulate navigable waters 
     under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution (Article 1, 
     Section 8, Clause 3).
       USSCT found this in:
       Gilman v. Philadelphia, 70 U.S. 3 Wall. 713 713 (1865)
       ``The power to regulate commerce comprehends the control 
     for that purpose, and to the extent necessary, of all the 
     navigable waters of the United States which are accessible 
     from a state other than those on which they lie, and includes 
     necessarily the power to keep them open and free from any 
     obstruction to their navigation, interposed by the states or 
     otherwise. And it is for Congress to determine when its full 
     power shall be brought into activity, and as to the 
     regulations and sanctions which shall be provided.''