Connie Mack: “I rise today to announce legislation I am introducing--along with Senator Bradley and others--to reaffirm the Federal…”

“I rise today to announce legislation I am introducing--along with Senator Bradley and others--to reaffirm the Federal role in beach preservation and renourishment. I want to thank the Senator from New Jersey for his steadfast efforts on this issue and for all he did to make this bill possible. Mr. President, in my State of Florida, healthy beaches mean a healthy economy. Each year, millions of people travel from around the world to enjoy the recreational benefits of my State's coastlines. This tourist activity sustains our economy and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs for Floridians. As a consequence, people in Florida care deeply about the future of our beaches and look to us to ensure that they are properly maintained. For 60 years, Mr. President, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked in partnership with the Congress, the States, and coastal communities to devise a workable policy on sandy beach renourishment. The Corps brought to this partnership a wealth of accumulated technical expertise and institutional knowledge about beach preservation. Further, they brought funding which was leveraged with State and local participation into projects which directly benefited the Nation's coastlines. This all ended last year when the Clinton administration turned its back on coastal communities by ending the traditional Federal role in beach renourishment.”