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President Joe Biden has vetoed a joint resolution from the House and Senate that would have repealed his Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, delivering what could be a fatal blow to that specific challenge to his environmental agenda.
The expected veto was issued on the afternoon of April 6.
“I just vetoed a bill that attempted to block our Administration from protecting our nation’s waterways—a resource millions of Americans depend on—from destruction and pollution,” the president wrote on Twitter.
“Incorrect. President Biden’s overreaching WOTUS rule jeopardizes the livelihoods of American farmers and small businesses,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote in response to Biden’s Twitter post.
The joint resolution of disapproval passed the Republican-led House with a vote of 227–198 on March 9.
It then passed the Democrat-led Senate on March 30 with a vote of 53–43.
Notably, it drew support from non-Republicans in rural states, where Biden’s WOTUS definition is seen as a major issue for landowners and which contain many of the United States’ greatest natural wonders and protected lands.
Those outliers included Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), along with Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Fetterman (D-Penn.
