The House was unable to muster a two-thirds majority on Tuesday to override President Biden’s veto of laws to roll again the Environmental Protection Agency’s expanded authority over streams and wetlands, delivering a win to the president’s local weather agenda.
Congress handed Republican-led laws earlier this month scuttling Mr. Biden’s rule over small waterways, known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
Critics feared the rule would jeopardize farmland with federal protections over issues like creeks, ravines and drainage ditches, and Republicans decried it as authorities overreach.
“Decades of agency interpretations and misinterpretations of [waters of the United States] have created a lot of uncertainty for rural communities, farmers, businesses and industries that rely on clean water,” stated House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, Missouri Republican. “This rule does absolutely nothing to provide clarity.”
The House voted 227-196 Tuesday to override the veto that Mr. Biden issued final week, greater than 50 votes wanting the quantity wanted to overturn it.
The partisan breakdown intently mirrored that of when the invoice to roll again Mr. Biden’s water rule first handed, with a number of Democrats siding with Republicans to override the president.
The vote marked the second failed try to override one in every of Mr. Biden’s vetoes. The first got here final month when Republicans sought to scuttle a rule permitting climate-conscience ESG investing in Americans’ 401(okay) plans.
Mr. Biden’s water regulation additionally created unity within the Senate when it was first handed by Congress. Four Democrats and unbiased Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who caucuses with Democrats, voted with Republicans to move the GOP-led laws.
The White House and Democrats who backed Mr. Biden’s rule stated it’s obligatory to guard the nation’s clear water sources and stop potential hazardous runoff.
“Farmers would be left wondering whether artificially irrigated areas remain excluded or not. Construction crews would be left wondering whether their water-filled gravel pits remain excluded or not,” Mr. Biden stated in his veto message. “The resolution would also negatively affect tens of millions of United States households that depend on healthy wetlands and streams.”
However, the bickering in Washington could quickly be moot because of the Supreme Court.
The justices will rule later this yr on Sackett v. EPA, a case through which the excessive court docket will decide whether or not wetlands and different our bodies of water are underneath the EPA’s jurisdiction.
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