WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, provided the following opening statement today at the hearing entitled, “Legislative Hearing on S. 1140, The Federal Water Quality Protection Act.”

Witnesses include Patrick Parenteau, professor of law, senior counsel environmental and natural resources law clinic at Vermont Law School; Andrew Lemley, government affairs representative for New Belgium Brewing Company; Mark Pifher, manager of Southern Delivery System of Colorado Springs Utilities; Susan Metzger, assistant secretary for the Kansas Department of Agriculture; and Robert Pierce, Wetland Training Institute of Maryland.
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Sen. James Lankford

Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, today wrote to federal agency heads seeking details of their regulatory review and oversight, often called “retrospective review” or “regulatory look-backs.” These types of review identify regulations that may not achieve intended goals, have become outdated, or may have unintended consequences.
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The U.S. Postal Service ended the second quarter of fiscal 2015 (Jan. 1, 2015 – March 31, 2015) with an operating revenue increase of $223 million, or 1.3 percent, over the same period last year, and a net loss of $1.5 billion.

The increase in operating revenue was driven by a 14.4 percent growth in shipping and package volume. The net loss for the quarter was $1.5 billion compared to a net loss of $1.9 billion for the same period last year. Excluding a retiree health benefit prefunding expense, the net losses would have been $44 million and $447 million, respectively, for the quarters ended 2015 and 2014.

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David Cameron

In the best UK election coverage available online, Sky News is reporting David Cameron as the official winner of yesterday’s election – a surprise to most political pundits.

Sky News writes: In an extraordinary General Election, which claimed the scalps of three party leaders within 52 minutes, the Conservatives confounded expectations to win outright, returning Mr Cameron to Number 10.

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Sen. Ted Cruz

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, released the following statement regarding votes on the Iran Nuclear Review Act:

“This bill was a missed opportunity. If Congress had acted to defend our constitutional authority – if Congress had adopted the Cruz-Toomey amendment – then we would be able to stop a bad Iran deal.

“Instead, the odds are now overwhelming that under these ground rules President Obama will negotiate, and Congress will acquiesce to, a terrible deal that allows Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and will endanger the lives of millions of Americans and our allies.

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