The Senate took another shot at Barack Obama’s legacy on Thursday when they voted 54-45 to kill his coal mining rule.
The Hill reported that this vote gives Donald Trump his first chance to take an environmental rule off the books from Obama’s administration.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) undoes the Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule, which required coal firms to clean up waste from mountaintop mines to prevent it from going into the waterways. The coal industry and their allies have been trying to get rid of this regulation ever since Obama began drafting it early in his term.
This vote came just one day after the House voted 228-194 to pass the bill, which is supported by Trump. This means it will go on the books immediately. Environmentalists, of course, are furious about this.
“In my home state of Kentucky and others across the nation, the stream buffer rule will cause major damage to communities and threaten coal jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday. “We should heed their call now and begin bringing relief to coal country. Today’s vote on this resolution represents a good step in that direction.”
McConnell added that this is only the beginning of what Congress has planned for Obama’s legacy.
We’ll continue to chip away at the regulation legacy of the Obama years with more CRA resolutions in the coming days as well,” McConnell said.
We can’t wait to see Trump get the satisfaction of undoing Obama’s terrible regulation. SHARE this story if you support this!
