The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to define waters of the U.S. has been the subject of hearings in at least four different House committees, where witnesses for EPA and the Corps have been questioned by Members from both sides of the aisle on all aspects of the rule. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week approved H.R. 5078 to block the proposed rule from further consideration and called upon EPA and the Corps to adopt a more collaborative approach to drafting a rule. Concurrently, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2015 Interior and Environment funding bill that includes a provision to halt the rule. Last week, the full House approved a similar ban on funding for the rule in the appropriations bill that funds the Army Corps of Engineers. The prospect of a similar provision to ban funding for the rule has helped bring the entire appropriations process to a standstill in the Senate, where a committee markup of the Energy and Water Development Appropriation was canceled, and a package of three unrelated funding bills was pulled from the Senate floor.
