U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said Wednesday he is pleased the House Appropriations Committee included his provisions when it approved the fiscal year 2016 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.
Gosar’s language requesting a ban on the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from using any appropriated funds for the proposed “Waters of the United States” rule was included in the bill.
“I am very pleased to see my House colleagues on the Appropriations Committee accommodate my request, supported by 103 bipartisan members of Congress, to block all funding for the EPA’s proposed water grab,” Gosar said. “The House must utilize the power of the purse to stop the EPA from imposing devastating economic consequences for farmers, ranchers and small businesses throughout the country.”
Gosar introduced HR 594, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act, on Jan. 28. The bill prohibits the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineering from “developing, finalizing, adopting, implementing, applying, administering or enforcing” the proposed rule and any successor document, or any considerably similar proposed rule.
“Returning to regular order while using an open appropriations process is the key to reining in out-of-control federal spending as well as an over-reaching executive branch,” Gosar said. “This critical aspect of our constitutional checks and balances ensures that the will of the people is carried out and stops unelected bureaucrats from taking the law into their own hands.”
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