Dan Webster: “Today marks the Committee on Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans' first step in advancing an…”

“Today marks the Committee on Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans' first step in advancing an infrastructure agenda that aims to improve our Nation's infrastructure and expedite the development of new infrastructure. As vice chairman of the subcommittee, chaired by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), I have already seen a number of bills advance through the committee that, like the bill in front of us today, employ simple, pragmatic solutions to improve our Nation's infrastructure and advance an all-of-the-above energy and water strategy. The Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act, a bipartisan bill offered by my colleagues, Mr. LaMalfa and Mr. Schrader, is about avoiding electricity blackouts, preventing forest fires, and promoting healthy habitat for wildlife on Federal lands. This bill represents a simple, pragmatic solution to an issue that is born out of a lack of communication and consistency within a Federal agency. Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Conaway for agreeing to help expedite consideration of this bill today. I commend my colleagues, Mr. LaMalfa from California and Mr. Schrader from Oregon, for bringing up this bipartisan, commonsense piece of legislation. I urge my House colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture, Washington, DC, May 19, 2017. Hon.…”