{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-reintroduces-defense-environment-and-property-act/", "Dr. Rand Paul Reintroduces the Defense of Environment and Property Act", "2019-02-08", "2019", "2019-02", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nFebruary 8, 2019\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) reintroduced his Defense of Environment and Property Act to restore common sense to federal water policy by redefining \u201cnavigable waters,\u201d excluding ephemeral or intermittent streams from federal jurisdiction, and restraining the power the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers hold over American landowners.\n\n\u201cWhile some would have us believe we can only protect the environment by giving the federal government more control over Americans\u2019 lives, my bill shows we can act while still respecting Americans\u2019 private property rights and the Constitution\u2019s limits on federal power,\u201d said Dr. Paul.\n\nSenators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Mike Lee (R-UT) joined Dr. Paul on the legislation, which would provide a statutory fix to protect Americans from President Obama\u2019s overreaching 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The 2015 rule significantly expanded the definition of waters in the U.S. to include non-navigable waters, certain dry land, drains, ditches, small ponds, and even depressions in fields that are only wet after heavy rains.\n\nIn addition to introducing the Defense of Environment and Property Act in multiple sessions of Congress, Dr. Paul has previously cosponsored legislation to nullify the WOTUS rule. During Senate consideration of the Farm Bill in 2018, Dr. Paul and Senator Lee offered an amendment that would have repealed the WOTUS rule.\n\nYou can find the entire bill and a summary of Dr. Paul\u2019s Defense of Environment and Property Act below:\n\nBill Summary\n\nDr. Rand Paul\u2019s Defense of Environment and Property Act:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:17:04Z"]], "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://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-reintroduces-defense-environment-and-property-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8239850867539644, "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"}