WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) led a full Committee on Small Business hearing titled “Small Business Perspectives on the Impacts of the Biden Administration’s Waters of the United States Rule.” Chairman Williams issued the following statement after concluding today’s hearing.

“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,” said Chairman Williams. “For far too long, small businesses have been discarded by federal agencies and their burdensome regulatory agenda. Today we heard directly from entrepreneurs who have felt the sting of an overreaching government. The EPA’s WOTUS rule will increase the cost of doing business for our nation’s job creators and will add to the long list of unnecessary regulations.”

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“I have a unique understanding of how the federal government’s regulatory process impacts businesses in the real world,” said Frank Murphy, Chairman of the Environmental Issues Committee of the National Association of Home Builders and Chief Operating Officer of Wynne Jackson. “Additional regulations and their attendant administrative reviews and permitting processes make it more difficult for me to provide homes or apartments at a price point attainable for working families. More importantly, living under a regulatory regime that relies on the significant nexus test and determinations from unelected federal bureaucrats will make home building inefficient, costly and will ultimately exacerbate our nation’s housing affordability crisis.”

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“This new rule only creates more confusion for landowners and will inevitably slow down many of the important decisions driving our economic and environmental sustainability and benefitting our rural communities,” said Katherine English, an environmental lawyer and owner of her Southwest Florida family farm. “This unnecessary regulatory red-tape places a burden on our nation’s farmers and ranchers while stripping the states of their historic regulatory role over waters outside federal jurisdiction. Farmers and ranchers want clean water and clear rules, so we can remain focused on what we do best: providing food, fiber and renewable fuel for our nation and the world.”

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