Washington, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released the following statement after the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which affirmed that the Executive Branch cannot usurp Congress’s Article I power to write the nation’s laws.
“I am pleased to see the Supreme Court recognized and uphold Congress’s Article I authority. When Congress acts to address major policy questions affecting Americans and their livelihoods, it says so clearly, explicitly. It does not hide sweeping authorities of the Executive Branch in obscure provisions of the law, as the Obama executive branch tried to argue. This decision restores power to the people through their elected representatives. This will help restore trust and confidence in representative government.
“The Obama Administration acted outside its statutory authority when issuing regulations that would transform the nation’s power sector, with serious impacts on the American economy. This overreach, through the Clean Air Act was unconstitutional; the EPA does not have clear and specific congressional authorization to issue such expansive regulations, which circumvents Congress, and in effect, writes law.
“Much like when it attempted to regulate every mud puddle in America, the EPA had again been seeking to abuse its power and undermine representative government. As we wrote in our amicus brief to the court, if Congress intended to give the EPA sweeping authority to transform our economy, Congress would have done so explicitly.
“Thank you to the state of West Virginia and all of those who stood up against the EPA’s overreach of its authority and to the Supreme Court for reaffirming Article I of the Constitution, which gives the legislative branch the exclusive power to make laws."
Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Republican Leader David B. McKinley (R-WV) released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision.
“West Virginians know better than most the cost of EPA overreach, and I am proud that West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led the effort, on behalf of over 20 states, in the U.S. Supreme Court to protect our state’s energy workers against the unelected bureaucrats who continue to wage war on American energy production. The Supreme Court made the right decision to restrict the executive branch’s regulatory overreach and restore the authority of Congress. Today’s ruling is a major win for America’s energy future."
Note: Leader Rodgers and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) led 47 senators and 44 House members on an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petitioners, including the state of West Virginia, in this case. The signers of the amicus brief included every Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
