[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S549-S550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. YOUNG. Madam President, in recent weeks, the Biden administration 
has reassured Americans that our economy is historically strong and 
that their policies are the reason why. But far away from the White 
House, most people, I have to say, are unpersuaded. The cost of their 
bills and the state of their savings simply don't match the rosy 
picture that the administration presents.
  There is a reason the rhetoric of this administration is so 
disconnected from the reality. This administration claims it is 
investing in America's economy, but, at the same time, it strangles our 
economy with unnecessary and ideologically motivated rules and 
regulations.
  Just ask Hoosier farmers. The latest in their deluge of redtape, the 
rewritten waters of the United States rule, will make it much harder 
and significantly more expensive for our farmers to help feed the rest 
of the world.
  Look at what they have had to navigate over just the past few years: 
a global pandemic, a supply chain stoppage, inflation, and the 
increased price of inputs.
  In an industry that is so fundamental to America's prosperity, where 
margins for generations have been razor thin, why would we create even 
more uncertainty for our Nation's farmers? Because the priorities of 
environmental ideologues in Washington, DC, are evidently more 
important to this administration than the needs of the people who 
actually work the land--the people who provide our food supply.
  This isn't part of an agenda that helps Americans. No, it is a bare-
knuckle attempt to expand the reach

[[Page S550]]

of the Federal Government over the lives and activities of regular 
people.
  Now, my office has recently heard from James Ramsey from Rush County, 
IN. James and his family farm corn, soybeans, and wheat in the east 
central part of our State. They have been farming and maintaining the 
same land since the 1860s. They also run a small business helping 
farmers and counties with drainage installation, ditch digging, and 
land clearing, improving water quality and soil health in the process.
  They started out doing minor projects back in 2008 but have since 
grown, acquiring their own wheel trencher and commercial plow. Through 
hard work and through a lot of planning, James, his father, his 
brother, and others have expanded this business. They have clients now 
throughout the State of Indiana, and they have eight employees.
  It is a real American success story--exactly the type WOTUS will 
interrupt. James, like many other farmers and small business owners 
across the country, knows what these newly revised, overly complex 
rules will accomplish. They will accomplish increased overhead, 
prolonged permitting processes, slowed or even stopped projects, and, 
ultimately, laid-off employees.
  James has never had to let a single employee go because of a lack of 
demand. Instead, he regards his employees as family. They have their 
own families to feed. They have their own mortgages to pay, their own 
homes to heat. And James understands this.
  This is why one of his greatest fears is having to one day--sometime 
soon, perhaps--walk into his shop and tell one of his guys that he 
can't keep everyone because of these new regulations. If this new 
definition of WOTUS stands, that has a strong chance of becoming 
reality. James might have to make that walk that he so wants to avoid.
  Listen, our farmers don't want to clear the land or harm its creeks 
and streams. They want to take care of the soil--what they have been 
doing for generations. They want to continue to work hard on behalf of 
their families and ensure that they can continue in this noble 
profession that their fathers and grandfathers have been involved in. 
They want to pass this on to their children and grandchildren.
  I have to say, our farmers also know quite a bit more about their 
land than the bureaucrats who wrote this WOTUS rule. As James pointed 
out, much of Indiana is not naturally drained. Because it was cleared 
long ago, rain empties into manmade streams and tile drains. We have 
the highest percentage of subsurface drainage in the entire nation in 
the State of Indiana.
  Drainage systems are central to the productivity of our farms. 
Tangling them up with greater Federal regulation could be disaster for 
our agriculture industry. Farmers like James have been through so much 
over the past few years. They have hung in there nonetheless.
  Now, just when they think they have turned another corner, WOTUS 
resurfaces, and, as James said, there is a real fear that these new 
regulations will have an even greater long-term impact than the 
pandemic or supply chain crisis.
  Right now, our farmers are asking for clarity, for an even-handed 
approach to regulation that, at once, respects the environment and 
allows them to continue to grow. If the Biden administration is 
serious, if they are genuinely serious about strengthening the economy, 
they will reverse course and give our farmers this clarity and 
certainty they so desire.
  We should rescind this rule.
  I yield the floor.

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