The U.S. House of Representatives was unsuccessful in getting enough votes to override President Biden’s veto of legislation that would have rolled back the EPA’s recently revised Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS).
The vote failed 227-196 and didn’t meet the two-thirds requirement for overriding a presidential veto.
House Republicans persuaded ten Democrats to vote against the Biden EPA’s rule, including House Ag Ranking Member David Scott (D-GA) and Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA).
In March, both the House and Senate passed a disapproval resolution with bipartisan support that would have scrapped Biden’s WOTUS Rule.
Farmers and landowners can be fined or threatened with jail time if the EPA or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers believe that they are in violation of the EPA’s WOTUS rule, which was first established to regulate ‘navigable bodies of water’, but has since been extended to include ditches, drainages and low spots on farmlands and pastures.
Two federal judges have issued recently separate preliminary injunctions against implementing the WOTUS rule in Indiana and 25 other states.
The fate of WOTUS may ultimately lie with the U.S. Supreme Court once they hand down their decision in the Sackett v. EPA case. That decision is expected before the end of the Supreme Court’s current term, which will likely be in early July.
Source: NAFB News Service.
