» Executive action:
President also signs orders on guns, colleges
Trump signs review of wetlands rules, issues other orders.
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order mandating the review of a rule aimed at protecting small streams and wetlands from development and pollution.
Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that the rule is one of the “worst examples of federal regulation” and that “it has truly run amok.”
He also says the rule has been “a disaster.”
The order instructs the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review the Obama-era rule that redefined which bodies of water are protected under the Clean Water Act.
Trump railed against the rule during his campaign, and Republicans have been fighting it since its inception, slamming it as an example of federal overreach.
Trump’s order could have far-reaching implications if the current water regulations are ultimately rescinded, said Todd Ambs, former administrator of water for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
“You would have a huge swath of water resources that would not be covered by the Clean Water Act,” said Ambs, campaign director of Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition, an environmental group.
He said half of Wisconsin’s 84,000 miles of rivers and streams are deemed “intermittent” and could lose protections under Obama-era regulations.
But the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation has supported the elimination of the rule, saying the current rule could expose farmers to “unwarranted citizen suits.”
Karen Gefvert, director of government relations, says the Obama regulations leave farmers questioning whether they would be violating the law when spreading manure and fertilizer near a ditch or ponds.
Trump also signed a pair of bills aimed at recruiting more women for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Trump said it’s unfair that only 1 in 4 women with a degree in one of these areas works in the field.
One measure authorizes the NASA administrator to encourage young women to study STEM fields and pursue careers that will help advance science and space exploration. It also requires NASA to report to Congress on its plans for achieving the goals spelled out in the legislation.
The second measure authorizes the National Science Foundation to encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world.
Also Tuesday:
Trump signed an executive order aimed at signaling his commitment to historically black colleges and universities, saying that those schools will be “an absolute priority for this White House.”
HBCU presidents are hoping Congress will bolster Trump’s actions to strengthen the schools with dramatically increased funding in the upcoming federal budget. They are calling for $25 billion for infrastructure, college readiness, financial aid and other priorities. Under President Barack Obama’s administration, historically black colleges and universities received $4 billion over seven years.
The White House said Donald Trump condemns any “racially or religiously motivated attacks” in the aftermath of a suburban Kansas City bar shooting that killed one man and injured two others.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump is “keeping the family of the victim who was senselessly killed in his thoughts and praying for the full and speedy recovery for those who were wounded.”
Trump signed a resolution blocking an Obama-era rule that would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from buying guns.
The rule was part of Obama’s push to strengthen the federal background check system after the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting.
Vice President Mike Pence has administered the oath of office to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday, a day after the Senate voted 7227 to confirm him.