[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 211 (Monday, December 15, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PROMOTING EFFICIENT REVIEW FOR MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 11, 2025

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment 
to H.R. 3898, the PERMIT Act, and in opposition to the underlying bill.
  For the last fifty years, the Clean Water Act has provided the 
federal government with the means to hold polluters accountable for 
contaminating our Nation's wetlands, rivers, lakes, and sources of 
drinking water. The Clean Water Act, in many cases, has been the sole 
reason why decades of pollution threatening the health of our 
communities has been reversed and why countless bodies of water 
throughout the country are now being preserved for future generations. 
The PERMIT Act will reverse progress and give polluters the ability to, 
once again, contaminate our waters by minimizing many of the critical 
protections in the Clean Water Act. This legislation establishes 
blanket Clean Water Act exemptions for toxic and cancer-causing 
chemicals stemming from pesticide use, agriculture, and wildfire 
management. This legislation also shields polluters from liability for 
pollutants that they do not disclose on their permit applications, even 
if they know that their operations result in the introduction of these 
pollutants.
  In Southeastern Virginia, one of our region's most critical resources 
is the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay provides our local economy with many 
opportunities in recreation, business, education, and tourism. 
Throughout the watershed, the Bay brings in nearly $14.3 billion in 
annual revenue and supports nearly one million jobs. The federal 
government and the states in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed recognize 
that our communities rely on the health of the Bay and signed the 
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement to regulate pollutants and implement 
standards like the Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL. It is extremely 
concerning that the PERMIT Act includes language specifically targeting 
the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement's TMDL by weakening the federal 
government's role in its implementation. My amendment strikes this 
language from the bill. The long-standing collaboration between the 
federal government and the states should not be diminished.
  I would like to thank the twelve members who cosponsored my amendment 
to strike this language. Because this amendment is not included and 
because of the various provisions in the underlying bill that endanger 
the protection of our Nation's waters, I oppose passage of this 
legislation.

                          ____________________