Jim Costa: “I want to thank the chair of the committee and the ranking member and all of the staff for their support and work on…”

“I want to thank the chair of the committee and the ranking member and all of the staff for their support and work on this important amendment. It is a simple amendment to the Water Resources Development Act. Today, as a result of action taken by the Congress in the previous WRDA bills, the Army Corps of Engineers has the authority to accept funds from non-Federal interests to update rules that govern the operations of reservoirs owned and operated by the Corps. Unfortunately, there are a number of facilities that are regulated but not owned by the Corps of Engineers, and previous WRDA bills have failed to provide similar authority to accept funds to update the operations manuals. These manuals are very important as it relates to flood control issues. Although the Corps regulations specify that water operations manuals, including flood-control curves, should be reviewed and updated regularly, the reality is the Corps does not do this because they have got budget constraints. A Government Accountability Office report released in July 2016 found that the Corps-owned projects for revisions to water control manuals are often a lower priority than other operations and maintenance activities, such as equipment repairs, sediment removal, or levee repairs. As a result, the Corps oftentimes does not get to funding these revised water control manuals. This is important. We have floods all across the country, and it is important that these get updated.…”