{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://graves.house.gov/media/press-releases/graves-rouzer-newhouse-lead-201-house-republicans-renewing-calls-biden", "Graves, Rouzer, Newhouse Lead 201 House Republicans in Renewing Calls for the Biden Administration to Drop WOTUS Expansion", "2022-03-09", "2022", "2022-03", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Sam Graves", "G000546", "graves.house.gov", "graves", "https://graves.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. - Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO), Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member David Rouzer (R-NC), and Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) are leading 201 House Republicans in renewing calls for the Biden administration to drop its plan to expand the scope of \u201cwaters of the United States\u201d (WOTUS).\n\nHouse Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are among the Republicans who also signed the letter.\n\nBeyond their opposition to the unnecessary burdens a broader WOTUS definition would have on businesses, communities, and private citizens, the Members strongly oppose such a move until the recently announced WOTUS-related Supreme Court case (Sackett) is decided. In a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael L. Conner (Agencies), they argue that a premature rulemaking would cause more confusion for impacted parties, waste taxpayer resources, and hinder efforts to improve U.S. infrastructure and protect clean water.\n\n\u201cWe urge the EPA and the Corps to halt all current rulemaking actions surrounding the WOTUS definition as the United States Supreme Court takes up this landmark case. The Agencies should instead use this time to continue meaningful engagement with stakeholders\u2026,\u201d the Members wrote. \u201cThis would allow the Agencies to fully understand and account for the impacts to small businesses, farmers, rural communities, and countless other stakeholders that will result from any regulatory change to the definition of WOTUS.\u201d\n\nThe Members detailed their firm opposition to the current WOTUS rulemaking:\n\n\u00b7 A Supreme Court ruling on WOTUS later this year will have significant impacts on any rule the Agencies put forward. A premature rulemaking will compound existing uncertainty and confusion for stakeholders, who have already experienced years of uncertainty over WOTUS definition and scope changes.\n\n\u00b7 The Agencies have stated their rulemaking will take into account \u201cupdates to be consistent with relevant Supreme Court decisions.\u201d With such a significant decision pending, refusing to push pause on their current rewrite rather than wait for the Supreme Court\u2019s action could lead to another complete rewrite just months down the line, wasting taxpayer resources.\n\n\u00b7 A broader WOTUS rule will delay, obstruct, and drive up the costs of improving U.S. infrastructure, and ultimately diminish the value of funding for projects across the country, including those funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.\n\n\u00b7 Due to the WOTUS rulemaking\u2019s anticipated negative impact on small businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration\u2019s Office of Advocacy has already requested the Agencies pause and a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel be held.\n\nClick here to read the full letter.\n\nBackground:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:06:17Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://graves.house.gov/media/press-releases/graves-rouzer-newhouse-lead-201-house-republicans-renewing-calls-biden"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7989322766661644, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}