Senate Democrats Vote to Expand Government Into Americans’ Backyards

Pat Powers

thuneheadernew John_Thune,_official_portrait,_111th_CongressSenate Democrats Vote to Expand Government Into Americans’ Backyards
“At the president’s urging, Washington bureaucrats have issued a rule governing Americans’ backyards without regard for the negative effect it has on communities that depend on the land.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the Senate attempted to override the president’s veto of the Obama Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, which places burdensome regulations on farmers, ranchers, and businesses across the country.

“At the president’s urging, Washington bureaucrats have issued a rule governing Americans’ backyards without regard for the negative effect it has on communities that depend on the land. Unfortunately, rather than listening to the American people’s objections, the president and Senate Democrats have persisted in their efforts to expand the reach of the federal government. We will continue to fight this thinly veiled land grab this year and beyond.”

WOTUS is under fire from Americans across the country, who are pushing back against a rule that allows the federal government to regulate ponds, ditches, agriculture water, storm water, and other bodies of water not historically regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. In November 2015, the Senate passed a resolution of disapproval to overturn WOTUS, and 31 states have filed lawsuits against the rule. An October decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extended to all 50 states an earlier injunction from a federal district court that blocked implementation in 13 states, including South Dakota.

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8 thoughts on “Senate Democrats Vote to Expand Government Into Americans’ Backyards”

    1. I agree-they need to stop funding Obummer’s socialist agenda; they have the power of the purse, and it is legitimate to use that power to stop the destruction of the country by the worst president in history.

  2. Sen. Thune and South Dakota landowners…
    You have no legal right to pollute any water even if you own it. Water seeps to it’s own level and your pollution eventually invades the aquafir. If SoDak wouldn’t look the other way on this hidden pollution you wouldn’t have to be told what to do like a sneaky criminal.

    1. “You have no legal right to pollute any water even if you own it.”

      Actually, you do. I pollute my water all the time–once or twice a day. At the bottom of my toilet(s).

      And so do you Porter, seeing how you’re usually full of sh!t.

      What one cannot do, is pollute water and allow it to flow away from your property. This is already barred and regulated already by the CWA.

      WOTUS has NOTHING to do with polluted water flowing elsewhere.

  3. Clean Water. That is what we want Mr. Thune. Clean Water. Keep it simple and protect our water quality.

  4. “Backyards”? Apparently, in Senator Thune’s world people on a routine basis have backyards with ponds and shores. Perhaps they do, no wonder he can raise 11 million dollars for a non campaign without an opponent. In Senator Thune’s world, 11 million dollars is as common, I guess, as ponds and shores in ones “backyard.”

  5. Oh, the squirrels who live in my backyard will be happy to see the feds! But only if they bring acorns or peanuts still in the shell.

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