On the recordJune 6, 2018
I want to begin by thanking the chairman, Chairman Shuster, and the committee for all of their work on WRDA. It has been timely, and they have been a joy to work with. WRDA 2000, however, authorized a plan known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and it granted the authority to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to provide credit to the State of Florida for reasonable cost of any work that was performed toward the completion of the project. However, current law does have some ambiguity that my amendment clarifies with respect to when the work is performed. Now, the Army Corps ultimately has the discretion to determine what work performed by Florida is integral to the project, and this amendment makes no change to that discretion whatsoever. Questions have been raised with regard to the scope of the Army Corps' authority to grant credit for work Florida has done that is not explicitly stated in the Project Partnership Agreement. My amendment clarifies that, so long as the Secretary and Florida agree that the work completed during the construction phase is integral to the project, the Secretary does, in fact, have the authority to provide credit for that work that is done. I appreciate the full committee and the subcommittee's leadership working with me on this language, and I encourage my colleagues to adopt this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
