Mark Udall: “as part of the debate on the the American Economic Recovery Act, I filed amendment No. 248, which addresses development…”

“as part of the debate on the the American Economic Recovery Act, I filed amendment No. 248, which addresses development and management concerns for the Republican River, a river that runs through Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska and is part of the South Platte River Basin. This bipartisan amendment is cosponsored by Senator Bennet. This amendment was filed to address an issue in Colorado under the purview of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, BOR, in the same way that the drafters of the bill permitted funding for Arizona and California. If funding under the bill to the BOR can be directed to address concerns in California and Arizona and not be considered an earmark, then similarly, this direction to benefit the South Platte River Basin should not be considered an earmark. As you know, the language of the bill suggests that $50 million of the funds provided in the bill may be transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior for programs, projects and activities authorized by the Central Utah Project Completion Act--titles II-V of Public Law 102-575; $50 million of the funds provided under this heading may be used for programs, projects, and activities authorized by the California Bay-Delta Restoration Act, Public Law 108-361. In this case, I feel it is important as the senior Senator for Colorado to insist that additional funding for the Bureau of Reclamation for important job-creating projects in the West ought to be handled in an evenhanded way.”