Signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972, the Clean Water Act is responsible for improving water quality in the nation's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-PA) sponsored a reauthorization bill that would dramatically rewrite the law and roll back much of this progress. Dubbed the "Dirty Water Act," H.R. 961 would relax or waive federal water pollution control regulations, subject public health protections to new cost analyses (see House vote #1, Safeguards Rollback), weaken treatment requirements for toxic pollution, remove up to 80 percent of wetlands from federal protection, and require the federal government to reimburse landowners if wetlands protections cause a 20 percent decrease in value to any portion of their land (see House vote #2, Takings). The Shuster bill also inadequately addresses polluted runoff, the largest remaining source of water degradation. On May 16, 1995, H.R. 961 passed the House 240 - 185. NO is the pro-environment vote.

LCV considers this legislation so environmentally harmful that this vote is scored twice.