Bob Filner: “unfortunately I did not get a chance to offer an amendment with Mr. Reyes to provide an additional $10 million for a…”

“unfortunately I did not get a chance to offer an amendment with Mr. Reyes to provide an additional $10 million for a critical program in the Interior-EPA Appropriations bill. The funds would have been used for ``architectural, engineering, planning, design, construction and related activities in connection with the construction of high priority water and wastewater facilities in the area of the United States-Mexico Border, after consultation with the appropriate border commission.'' This is the section of the EPA's State and Tribal Assistance Grants program that funds the Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF). The amendment would have transferred the $10 million out of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) $974.5 million appropriation. The USGS appropriation in this bill is currently $39 million more than the FY2005 appropriation, and $41 million more than the president's request. The border program, on the other hand, has been flat-funded at $50 million for several years. The record should reflect that we did not intend for the USGS's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to be impacted by the reduction in USGS's appropriation. NAWQA carries out very important work collecting and analyzing data and information in more than 50 major river basins and aquifers across the Nation in order to develop long-term information on streams, ground water, and aquatic ecosystems in support of sound management and policy decisions.…”