Senator Marshall’s Statement on Joe Biden Vetoing the Bipartisan Resolution that Would Block the Biden Administration’s WOTUS Rule

(Washington, D.C., April 7, 2023) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., a U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee member, released the following statement addressing President Biden’s Veto of the Bipartisan Resolution to reverse the Administration’s revised definition of ‘Waters of the United States.’

“President Biden has once again put D.C. Bureaucrats over our nation’s Agricultural producers,” said Senator Roger Marshall. “Farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of our land and are invested in protecting the quality of our nation’s waterways.”

“Kansans know that the unconstitutional Obama-era WOTUS ruling drastically expanded the federal government’s involvement with minimal improvements in water quality – resulting in more red tape for our producers. The Biden rule was just as expansive, and that is why we sent bipartisan legislation to the president that would strike down his massive overstep.”

“Consistent and clear guidelines and regulations are vital in protecting our waterways – we cannot keep moving the goalpost. Sadly, that is exactly what this Administration did this week,” said Senator Roger Marshall.

Background:

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall helped lead the charge on the Senate resolution that expressed the need for the U.S. Senate to stand with hard-working Americans by overturning Joe Biden’s Waters of the United States Rule. 

Yesterday afternoon, Joe Biden struck down the Bipartisan resolution that passed the House and the Senate. 

In 2015, the Obama Administration finalized a rule that expanded the definition of the Waters of the United States—giving the federal government authority to regulate water on much of the land in Kansas—and creating confusion and burdensome red tape for Kansas’ agriculture industry and many others.

The Trump Administration released a proposed rule to replace the Obama Administration’s 2015 WOTUS rule with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) that provided much-needed predictability and certainty for farmers by establishing clear and reasonable definitions of what qualifies as a “water of the United States.” 

On day one of his Administration, President Biden signed anexecutive order that rolled back the Trump Administration’s NWPR, to pave the way to establish a new rule similar to the unsuccessful Obama-era WOTUS rule which was struck down in federal court.

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