Huelskamp Criticizes Senate for Failing to Take Up Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act
Press Release
Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a member of the Agriculture Committee and representative of one of the country's largest agricultural districts, criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for failing to bring to a vote on H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act. The legislation needed to be voted on before a court-ordered deadline of October 31, 2011. This time-sensitive legislation, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the President, would have prevented farmers from having to obtain duplicative and costly permits for pesticide application.
"Not only has the Senate abdicated its responsibility to pass a budget for 914 days, but it has also foregone the opportunity to vote on 15 jobs bills the House has already passed. Majority Leader Reid's refusal to have a vote on the "Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act" specifically has major implications for America. This legislation -- which I cosponsored and which passed the House with bipartisan support -- would have prevented America's farmers, ranchers, and businesses from having to comply with an expensive and duplicative pesticide permitting process. Now, because the Senate refused to vote on the bill ahead of the court-ordered deadline, the Majority Leader Reid has sent a clear message to America's agriculture community: the Senate is willing to force even more red tape and costs upon it. At a time when America is suffering from record sustained unemployment, the Senate is willing to put unnecessary red tape ahead of job creation."
H.R. 872 is one of the "Forgotten 15" pieces of pro-jobs legislation that the House has passed but the Democrat-controlled Senate has ignored. H.R. 872 amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to clarify that CWA permits are not needed when a pesticide is applied in accordance with the FIFRA approved label. The legislation affirms the purpose of FIFRA, and as a result, pesticides applied to or near water, in accordance with the FIFRA label, would not be considered a pollutant and would therefore not require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
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