Lucas & Peterson Praise House Passage of H.R. 872

Press Release

Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Ranking Member Collin Peterson of Minnesota issued the following statements after the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 in a bipartisan vote, 292-130.

"I am proud to be a part of the bipartisan effort that led to the House passage of H.R. 872. The last thing the agricultural community needs is another government mandate. This bill eliminates a costly and duplicative permitting requirement that is the result of a court's fundamental ignorance of Congressional intent. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to join our efforts so that we can get a bill to the President before more valuable resources are wasted," said Chairman Frank D. Lucas.

"We first began looking into ways to address this issue last fall and I am pleased that, on a bipartisan vote, the House has approved H.R. 872. The courts are not the place to decide agriculture policy and this bill makes clear that it was never the intent of Congress to burden producers with additional permit requirements that would have little to no environmental benefit. I urge the Senate to quickly follow suit and provide certainty to producers by passing this legislation," said Ranking Member Collin Peterson.

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