This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) prohibiting federal funds from being used to enforce a federal regulation intended to reduce nutrient pollution (pollution from plant nutrients and fertilizers) in the Chesapeake Bay (which is located in Maryland and Virginia.).  This amendment was offered to a continuing resolution funding the federal government through September 2011, and cutting $61 billion in federal funding for many government programs.

Goodlatte (R-VA) urged support for his amendment: “The EPA has proposed arbitrary limits on the amounts of nutrients that can enter the Chesapeake Bay and how these nutrients enter the bay….These overzealous regulations will affect everyone who lives, works, and farms in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and the cost of complying with these requirements will be devastating during our current economic downturn, resulting in many billions of dollars in economic losses to States, cities, towns, farms and other businesses, large and small.”

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) opposed the amendment: “We've seen increased crab and oyster populations and an increase in underwater grasses. The bay is coming back to life. The agreed-upon, negotiated, detailed, multistate plans have the potential to finally restore the Chesapeake Bay if everyone does his part….This amendment would break up the existing federal, state, local, and private partnership by prohibiting any federal financial assistance to farmers, municipalities, and businesses that are working to improve the Chesapeake Bay watershed….The pollution of the Chesapeake Bay is also a jobs killer for the citizens in its watershed. If this amendment passes, it will ultimately result in a loss of thousands of fishing, crabbing and tourism jobs.”

The House agreed to this amendment by a vote of 230-195. Voting “yea” were 222 Republicans and 8 Democrats. 180 Democrats and 15 Republicans voted “nay.” As a result, the House agreed to an amendment prohibiting funds provided by a continuing resolution from being used to enforce a federal regulation intended to reduce nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.