Trouble For Obama: Dozens Of Congressional Dems Turning Against His Big Power Grab

by Norvell Rose 

Democrats in the House and Senate are aligning with Republicans in an attempt to build a legislative dam against sweeping new water rules being imposed by Obama’s EPA — rules that critics claim could sink business and destroy private property rights. As The Hill reports, “Dozens of congressional Democrats are joining Republicans to back legislation blocking the Obama administration’s new rule to redefine its jurisdiction over the nation’s waterways.”
On Wednesday, Western Journalism told you about the controversial new Environmental Protection Agency mandate that some consider more of a power grab than an effort to keep America’s waterways clean and healthy. Technically, the new rule is couched as an extension of the Clean Water Act of 1972, thus allowing EPA regulators and bureaucrats to significantly broaden their reach and authority without working through Congress.
This move comes after two separate Supreme Court rulings prohibiting the EPA and the Corps of Engineers’ previous attempts to expand on the Clean Water Act — a move that, if fully implemented, Heritage Foundation Agricultural Policy Research Fellow Daren Bakst argues would be “devastating to property rights.”
Despite congressional attempts to push back against the EPA-led action, the regulation was made final on Wednesday. The article in The Hill notes that the stated purpose of the rule is to “clarify that small streams, wetlands, headwaters and tributaries are covered by the Clean Water Act and the rules that go along with it.”

But Capitol Hill opponents of the EPA’s aggressive action are not giving up the fight. “Three moderate Democrats in the Senate and 24 in the House have joined the GOP in opposition, but leave them far from the two-thirds majorities they would need for a veto-proof vote to overturn the rule.”
It comes as no surprise that a spokesman for the Obama administration has attacked Republicans opponents of the rule; but in his slam against adversaries to the EPA action, the Obama mouthpiece also took a brutal swing at Democrats fighting the measure.
The Hill coverage of the controversy includes this incendiary bit of administration rhetoric: “’The only people with reason to oppose the rule are polluters who want to threaten our clean water,’ said Brian Deese, Obama’s top environmental adviser.”

One of the Senate Democrats — threatening “polluters” — fighting to undo the EPA waterways rule through legislative action is West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a frequent critic of Obama’s environmental initiatives.

…Manchin accused the EPA of “once again dangerously overreaching its boundaries by expanding the definition of water sources it can regulate.”
He said the rule “will certainly have a significant impact on West Virginia’s economy, hindering businesses, manufacturing and energy production.”

Among the most vocal critics of the rule are farmers and ranchers who claim the EPA action would mandate a costly permitting process for, and ultimately federal control over, everyday agricultural tasks like digging ditches and spraying fertilizer.
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth 

oped addendum: Ah Ha el Presidente' self appointed for life came up with a solution :  


[Obama bottled water]