The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Congress Moves to Stop Student Loan Forgiveness, Supreme Court Issues Decision on Government Overreach, Troops Headed to Southern Border | May 25

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Two House Democrats vote with Republicans to pass a resolution aimed at overturning President Joe Biden’s Student loan forgiveness plan.  The Supreme Court issues a unanimous 9-0 decision. The ruling limits the power of the federal government to regulate bodies of water.  Lawmakers pass a bill aimed at stopping the alarming number of fentanyl deaths happening across the country.  Tennessee is sending 100 National Guard troops to the southern border.  Relevant Links Listen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/ Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription   Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Samantha Sherris. I'm Virginia Allen. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, May 25th. Here are today's headlines. Two House Democrats voted with Republicans on Wednesday to pass a resolution aimed at overturning President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Maine Democrat Representative Jared Golden and Washington State Representative Marie Glucent Camp Perez joined Republicans to pass the measure 218 to 203. As you recall, last year, Biden announced a plan to forgive up to $10,000 of student loan debt for all borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. The total cost of the student loan forgiveness plan is estimated to total around $400 billion. The resolution to stop the Biden's student loan forgiveness plan was brought under the Congressional Review Act. The act allows Congress to stop the president's executive actions. Virginia Representative Bob Good sponsored the resolution.

Good spoke about the need to stop Biden's student loan forgiveness plan and restart student loan payments on the floor of the House Wednesday. Congress must reclaim its power and act today to stop the unilateral action of President Biden that is exacerbating the higher education financial crisis. Additionally, my resolution will do what should have been done a long time ago and the student loan repayment pause that has already he calls taxpayers $195 billion. While the act passed easily through the House, it faces an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Biden also said he will veto the resolution if it reaches his desk. But Republicans in the House are not the only threat to Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Legal challenges to Biden's student loan forgiveness plan have risen to the Supreme Court. And the High Court

is expected to issue its ruling on the case. in the coming days or week. Stay tuned. The Supreme Court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision today. The ruling limits the power of the federal government to regulate bodies of water. The ruling is a rejection of the way the Environmental Protection Agency defines water, specifically water that falls under the authority of the Clean Water Act. To understand this case, we need to talk about the sackets. That's a family. Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Jean-Carlo Canaparo joins us now to discuss this case.

Jean-Carlo, thanks for being here. Can you explain who exactly the Sackets are and why they are so critical to this case? Absolutely, Virginia. So the Sackets are a family who bought a piece of land not far from Priest Lake in Idaho. And it's a small piece of property. They wanted to build a modest home, and they got all the permits. And then at the last minute, the federal government came in and said, sorry, you can't build here because we have regulatory authority and we don't want you to. And the Sackett said, well, why do you have the power to regulate our piece of property? And the federal government said, well, we get to regulate navigable waters. And the Sackett said, well, what are navigable waters? There are no navigable waters on our property.

And the federal government said, well, there is an act called the Clean Water Act. and we have interpreted it to mean that we get to regulate any piece of land, which has, in the words of an old and very convoluted Supreme Court decision, a substantial nexus to navigable waters. And your piece of property, dry though it is, is bordered by a road. And across the road is a ditch. And that ditch connects to a stream. And that stream connects to a little marshy area. And that marsh connects to the lake, which is a navigable water. Sounds a little bit like a camp song. It's a little bit ridiculous is what it sounds like. And this all hinged on two things. Number one, a very aggressive redefinition of the terms of a statute by the EPA and this very old opinion by the Supreme Court, which made things a mess with this substantial nexus test. So the Sackets have been fighting and losing in the lower courts for 16 years to build their home.

Wow. It's a long time to be in court battles. So they have just received a victory at the Supreme Court. And what the Supreme Court ruled is that the EPA overstepped in its definition of what constitutes a body of water or this navigable waterway that they have authority over, that the federal government can control. So what does this now mean not just for the Sackets, but for other individuals, other companies, landowners who maybe found themselves in the same position? Right. So it all turns on the Supreme Court's understanding of what that phrase navigable waters really means. And what the Supreme Court said is the plain language of that phrase is, you know, what we typically think of as lakes, rivers, streams, and some wetlands. And the federal government has the authority to regulate those bodies of water. And also in the case, for fear of, say, chemical runoff, for instance, you can regulate lands that are touching those bodies. of water. But this long, attenuated connection from the sackets piece of dry land through a road and a ditch. I mean, it feels like, you know, over the hill and underdale, right? That's not okay.

That's not what Congress meant. So it means that a very particular sort of land and now regulable, that kind of land that actually touches navigable waters. But otherwise, you know, it's your property and you're free to use it as you see fit, subject only to state regulation. Zhang Kholler, what do you make of the fact that this was a unanimous ruling, that every single Supreme Court justice, no matter whether they lean conservative or not, said no, lower courts have been wrong on this and ruled in favor of the Sagitts? Yeah, it's a huge win for the rule of law over the rule of sort of arbitrary bureaucrats. That's not to say that the Supreme Court was fully in agreement. the liberal justices and Justice Kavanaugh would have allowed the EPA some more wiggle room than it has. But nobody was on board with allowing the EPA to just sort of regulate any piece of property it wanted on some attenuated connection to water.

Junkhalla, we really appreciate your expertise on this. And for all of our listeners who want to dive a little bit deeper into this issue, we encourage them, Junker, to take out your podcast, SCOTUS 101, that you co-host with Zach Smith. And there's a brand new episode coming out tomorrow that actually dive. deeper into this issue and really gets into the weeds of what happened here and why this is such a significant case. So for all of our listeners, again, that's SCOTUS 101. The podcast will be out tomorrow morning. You can find it across podcast platforms. John Carlo, thanks for your time today. Thanks for having me in Virginia. Today, lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stopping the alarming number

of fentanyl deaths happening across the country. The House passed the halt fentanyl act in a vote of 289 to 133. Washington State Republican Republican rep Kathy McMorris Rogers spoke in support of the bill before Congress today, explaining how the deadly fentanyl is entering America in record numbers. Elicit fentanyl is one of the greatest threats that we face as a nation. Elicit drug manufacturers are diverting precursor chemicals from some of China's 160,000 chemical plants and shipping them to Mexico, where cartels are producing mass quantities of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances.

Customs and Border Protection has seized a record 17,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border in fiscal year 2023. More than triple the total amount seized in 2020. The bill was first introduced in January by Representative Morgan Griffith of Virginia and Rep. Bob Lata of Ohio. Upon the bill's passage, Griffith issued a statement celebrating the bill's passage. The congressman said the bill strengthens law enforcement's ability to prosecute feton all traffickers. And he added that the bill also promotes research of fentanyl analogs in the hopes of finding medicinal uses. Now the bill moves to the Senate. Given the bill's bipartisan support in the House, it is unlikely the bill will pass in the Senate.

Tennessee is sending 100 National Guard troops to the southern border, specifically to Texas. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee made the announcement late last night. The troops will help with Texas border security operation, known, as Operation Lone Star. According to the governor's office, the 100 troops will be deployed to the southern border at the end of May. They will patrol the border, provide additional security, assist with placing more barriers on the border, removing debris, and staffing outpost operations. The decision to send the troops comes just a couple days after Lee and eight other Republican governors

met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Austin. They discussed the security at the Texas border. with Mexico. Abbott asked the governors to lend support to the state's efforts to secure the border, and Tennessee responded. Lee explained his decision to send the troops to Texas by saying the federal government owes Americans a plan to secure our country, and in the meantime, states continue to answer this important call to serve. Texas Republican Representative Randy Weber praised the decision. He told the daily signal that Tennessee has a rich history of helping Texas in times of need, and this is welcome news.

But Tennessee is not the only state sending support to Texas. Florida and Idaho have already sent resources and personnel to help. And just hours before Lee's announcement, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillon announced he is sending 10 Nebraska state troopers to Texas to help stop the influx of illegal immigration at our southern border. The latest numbers from CBP show more than 1.4 million. million illegal aliens have been encountered at the southern border just since October. Before we go today, we want to take just a moment to recognize the importance of Memorial Day on

Monday. We're not going to have top news tomorrow or on Monday in observance of Memorial Day, but we invite you all to enjoy a conversation on the Daily Signal podcast on Monday morning with Combat Veteran and the president of America's Warrior Partnership, Jim Lorraine. We'll be talking about how we can honor the memory of our fallen service military members, and also how we can support and love the family members that they have left behind. And that's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal's top news. Please be sure to join us tomorrow morning for an interview edition with Lucas Miles discussing his book, Woke Jesus. Also, make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach even more listeners.

by leaving a five-star rating and review. We read and appreciate all of your feedback. Thanks again for joining us today. We'll be back with you tomorrow morning, but remember we do not have a top news edition tomorrow or on Monday, but we will have our regular interview shows. Thanks again for listening. Have a great weekend,

and we'll be back with you all on Tuesday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Bly and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.