WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a full committee hearing to examine the impact of the Biden Administration’s latest regulatory push under the WOTUS rule: “Small Business Perspectives on the Impacts of the Biden Administration’s Waters of the United States Rule.”

Chairman Roger Williams’ opening statement as prepared for delivery:

I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today and understand that all of you traveled a long way to be here.

I know hw hard it is to step away from your day-to-day operations, and I am extremely grateful that you chose to give us your time today.

Since President Biden was sworn into office, the regulatory actions of his administration have cost the private sector nearly $360 billion in compliance costs, and an estimated 220 million hours in new paperwork requirements.

Later this month, the Biden Administration will increase these costs by finalizing the new Waters of the United States Rule. For any business, certainty is key, and unfortunately, this rule is leaving many people in the dark on if they will be in compliance with the new regulations.

For the last decade, small businesses have hoped for clarity around what is the definition of a waterway that is subject to regulations by the federal government.

Unfortunately, this rule fails to resolve these issues and will leave business owners wondering if they need to get permission from the federal government before they make even minor adjustments on their private property.

There are laws on the books that are supposed to protect small businesses from regulatory overreach from the federal government.

Specifically, the Regulatory Flexibility Act is in place to ensure agencies are conducting analysis on how their actions will affect small entities and propose alternatives.

However, the EPA certified that this rule would not have any impact on small businesses, and therefore unilaterally decided that they do not need to conduct any further analysis on the rule.

According to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, which is charged with speaking out against overly burdensome regulations, this determination by the EPA was not based on any factual analysis.

Today, we will listen to the small businesses whose opinions have been disregarded by agencies for too long.

We will hear how this rule will have a significant impact on many types of small businesses such as farming, ranching, mining, and real estate development, just to name a few.

The past several years have caused tremendous hardship for Main Street America.

Whether it be the COVID-19 pandemic, out-of-control inflation, broken supply chains, high interest rates, or a national labor shortage, the federal government should not be giving small businesses yet another challenge to overcome.

I want to thank you all again for being here with us today and I am looking forward to today’s conversation.

Lastly, without objection, I would like to submit a letter for the record from the National Federation of Independent Business.

With that, I will yield to our distinguished Ranking Member from New York, Ms. Velázquez.

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