Recent Press Releases

Senate 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.”

January 21, 2016

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.