[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE REGULATORY INTEGRITY PROTECTION ACT OF 2015

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 1732, the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015, introduced 
by my friend and colleague, Chairman Bill Shuster.
  Enacted in 1972, the Clean Water Act established a Federal-State 
partnership to protect our Nation's navigable waterways. The 
administration has maintained that the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule 
would have no impact on waters historically not under the Clean Water 
Act's jurisdiction and is needed simply to provide legal clarity.
  While I agree that the boundaries of the Clean Water Act need to be 
better defined in statute, this proposal provides no such clarity or 
certainty, creating far more problems than it can solve. Conversely, 
rather than clarifying the law, the rule would actually create more 
confusion about where the law stops.
  Back in March, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and 
Forestry, which I chair, held its second hearing to review the proposed 
rule and its impact on rural America. The various witnesses spoke loud 
and clear that the rule would have far-reaching and unprecedented 
impacts on permitting costs and regulatory uncertainty for land use 
activities, such as agriculture and forestry.
  With the significant challenges already before farmers, ranchers, 
foresters, and landowners, there is too much on the line to continue 
down the path of nonsensical overregulation. The Corps of Engineers and 
the EPA must withdraw this rule, and go back to the drawing board.

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