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Daines Slams Biden for Forcing Burdensome Regulations on Montanans

Press Release

Date: April 6, 2023
Location: Unkown
Issues: Agriculture and Food

U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released a statement in response to President Biden's veto of Daines' challenge to the administration's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation.

"The Biden administration's WOTUS rule creates unnecessary confusion and burdensome red tape for Montana farmers, ranchers and landowners--that's why the Senate voted to overturn it by a strong bipartisan margin. The President's veto today shows just how far he's willing to go to impose big government regulations on Montanans. The Biden administration's regulatory agenda is absolutely out of control and must be stopped."


BACKGROUND ON WOTUS, NWPR:

Senator Daines joined all 48 of his Senate Republican colleagues in introducing a formal challenge to the Biden administration's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule through a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval in February 2023. Full text of the resolution can be found here.

Last week, the Senate passed the resolution to block President Biden's burdensome WOTUS.

The resolution comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a new rule in December 2022 repealing the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), and changing the definition of Waters of the United States in a way that will expand federal regulatory authority.In 2015, the Obama administration finalized a rule that expanded the definition of WOTUS, creating confusion and burdensome red tape, especially for Montana's agriculture, construction, and mining industries.

In 2019, the Trump Administration repealed the Obama rule, and in 2020, replaced it with the common-sense NWPR. The NWPR established a clear, reasonable, and easily administrable definition of "Waters of the United States' that provided much-needed predictability and certainty for farmers and private property owners.

On day one of his administration, President Biden signed an executive order to begin the process of rolling back the Trump administration's NWPR.


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