Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Jason Smith (Mo.) released the following statement slamming the Biden administration’s final rule regarding the definition of the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule:

“The goal of President Biden’s Waters of the U.S. rule is to give unelected bureaucrats even more command and control over the lives of rural Missourians. The Trump administration’s rule protected Missouri’s water, incorporated sound science, and accommodated the needs of farmers, ranchers, landowners, and small businesses. But getting rid of this carefully crafted rule means that federal bureaucrats will again have the authority to regulate any body of water – whether it’s a puddle, ditch, pond, or creek – passing through or standing on private land. I’ll continue fighting tooth and nail to protect all these stakeholders from the Biden administration’s overreaching WOTUS rule and any other efforts by Washington Democrats to force their radical agenda on our communities."

Smith has a long history of opposing an expansive definition of the WOTUS rule. In September, Smith and several of his Republican colleagues sent a letter to leaders at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to raise concerns about regulatory actions taken by the agencies that would expand their authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate WOTUS. The members warned the agencies to stay within the bounds of authority granted to them by Congress.

In March, Smith and over 200 members of Congress demanded the Corps halt all current rule making actions until the Supreme Court rules on the pending Sackett v. EPA case, which deals precisely with the definition of WOTUS. Smith signed onto an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of landowners Michael and Chantall Sackett who are fighting for the right to build a home on their own property.

During the Trump administration, Smith brought then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to southeast Missouri to hear firsthand the impacts of President Obama’s disastrous WOTUS rule. That feedback was used to craft the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which brought the necessary certainty stakeholders had been seeking.