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Floor Speech

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Mr. YOUNG. Madam President, in recent weeks, the Biden administration has reassured Americans that our economy is historically strong and that their policies are the reason why. But far away from the White House, most people, I have to say, are unpersuaded. The cost of their bills and the state of their savings simply don't match the rosy picture that the administration presents.

There is a reason the rhetoric of this administration is so disconnected from the reality. This administration claims it is investing in America's economy, but, at the same time, it strangles our economy with unnecessary and ideologically motivated rules and regulations.

Just ask Hoosier farmers. The latest in their deluge of redtape, the rewritten waters of the United States rule, will make it much harder and significantly more expensive for our farmers to help feed the rest of the world.

Look at what they have had to navigate over just the past few years: a global pandemic, a supply chain stoppage, inflation, and the increased price of inputs.

In an industry that is so fundamental to America's prosperity, where margins for generations have been razor thin, why would we create even more uncertainty for our Nation's farmers? Because the priorities of environmental ideologues in Washington, DC, are evidently more important to this administration than the needs of the people who actually work the land--the people who provide our food supply.

This isn't part of an agenda that helps Americans. No, it is a bare- knuckle attempt to expand the reach of the Federal Government over the lives and activities of regular people.

Now, my office has recently heard from James Ramsey from Rush County, IN. James and his family farm corn, soybeans, and wheat in the east central part of our State. They have been farming and maintaining the same land since the 1860s. They also run a small business helping farmers and counties with drainage installation, ditch digging, and land clearing, improving water quality and soil health in the process.

They started out doing minor projects back in 2008 but have since grown, acquiring their own wheel trencher and commercial plow. Through hard work and through a lot of planning, James, his father, his brother, and others have expanded this business. They have clients now throughout the State of Indiana, and they have eight employees.

It is a real American success story--exactly the type WOTUS will interrupt. James, like many other farmers and small business owners across the country, knows what these newly revised, overly complex rules will accomplish. They will accomplish increased overhead, prolonged permitting processes, slowed or even stopped projects, and, ultimately, laid-off employees.

James has never had to let a single employee go because of a lack of demand. Instead, he regards his employees as family. They have their own families to feed. They have their own mortgages to pay, their own homes to heat. And James understands this.

This is why one of his greatest fears is having to one day--sometime soon, perhaps--walk into his shop and tell one of his guys that he can't keep everyone because of these new regulations. If this new definition of WOTUS stands, that has a strong chance of becoming reality. James might have to make that walk that he so wants to avoid.

Listen, our farmers don't want to clear the land or harm its creeks and streams. They want to take care of the soil--what they have been doing for generations. They want to continue to work hard on behalf of their families and ensure that they can continue in this noble profession that their fathers and grandfathers have been involved in. They want to pass this on to their children and grandchildren.

I have to say, our farmers also know quite a bit more about their land than the bureaucrats who wrote this WOTUS rule. As James pointed out, much of Indiana is not naturally drained. Because it was cleared long ago, rain empties into manmade streams and tile drains. We have the highest percentage of subsurface drainage in the entire nation in the State of Indiana.

Drainage systems are central to the productivity of our farms. Tangling them up with greater Federal regulation could be disaster for our agriculture industry. Farmers like James have been through so much over the past few years. They have hung in there nonetheless.

Now, just when they think they have turned another corner, WOTUS resurfaces, and, as James said, there is a real fear that these new regulations will have an even greater long-term impact than the pandemic or supply chain crisis.

Right now, our farmers are asking for clarity, for an even-handed approach to regulation that, at once, respects the environment and allows them to continue to grow. If the Biden administration is serious, if they are genuinely serious about strengthening the economy, they will reverse course and give our farmers this clarity and certainty they so desire.

We should rescind this rule.

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