{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/newhouse-urges-swift-action-after-new-information-what-s-upstream", "Newhouse Urges Swift Action after New Information on Whats Upstream", "2016-10-19", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Dan Newhouse", "N000189", "newhouse.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), released the following statement after the amended complaint was filed to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission regarding violations related to the \u201cWhat\u2019s Upstream\u201d campaign in Washington state:\n\u201cI encourage this complaint to be acted upon swiftly in order to determine all the facts on the improper and illegal use of taxpayer funds for the anti-farmer \u2018What\u2019s Upstream\u2019 campaign. Those found responsible for any illegal activity should be held accountable to the law.\u201d\nLast month, Rep. Newhouse led a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy requesting an update on the agency\u2019s review. EPA Region 10 funded the What\u2019s Upstream website and advocacy campaign that attempts to influence legislators for greater regulation of farmers and ranchers.\u00a0The letter requests an update on the agency\u2019s progress assembling facts and enacting reforms to ensure appropriated funds are not being used in contravention of the law. In April of this year, Administrator McCarthy acknowledged that the EPA was \u201cdistressed by the use of the money and the tone of [the What\u2019s Upstream] campaign\u201d and called for a full review of the use of taxpayer funds for the campaign. The letter sent today was signed by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX), Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Rep. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), and Rep. David Scott (D-GA).\nIn April, the EPA admitted that it should not have funded a campaign\u00a0in Washington State known as\u00a0What's Upstream, due to that campaign\u2019s brazen lobbying of state legislators in contravention of federal law. The What's Upstream\u00a0campaign, which was wholly funded by the EPA, used grant awards to fund a website, radio ads, and billboards depicting dead fish and polluted water, urging individuals to contact their state legislators and, \u201chold the agricultural industry to the same level of responsibility as other industries.\u201d A large, red button on the website labeled, \u201cTake action! We\u2019ve made it simple,\u201d allowed visitors to easily send an email to their state legislators advocating for 100-foot stream buffer zones and other policies. An\u00a0EPA Inspector General\u2019s report from 2014\u00a0had warned that the EPA region responsible for awarding the grant had insufficient protections in place to ensure awardees were not using funds for advocacy, propaganda, and/or lobbying efforts.\nAccording to a December, 2015 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the\u00a0EPA violated federal lobbying and advocacy\u00a0laws by funding social media campaigns supporting EPA\u2019s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/newhouse-urges-swift-action-after-new-information-what-s-upstream"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4981627464294434, "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"}