On the recordMay 20, 2014
Today, when the House passes the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, included in it will be the largest infrastructure project in the history of Georgia. Deepening the Savannah River from 42 to 47 feet will open up our port to lots of different countries and lots of different kinds of vessels from all over the world. 352,000 jobs are related to the Port of Savannah. The cost-benefit ratio is a dollar spent, five-and-a-half dollar return. It has been studied by four different Federal agencies and signed off by four Federal agencies. In fact, there were 64 individual studies on environmental impact, historic impact, traffic impact, and nearly just about everything else under the sun. It is a project that Georgia companies will greatly benefit from, as will all the Southeast, because 62 percent of what the port does is export goods and services. So it opens up the door to all kinds of new markets. I have to thank the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on a bipartisan basis for all that they have done and thank Mr. Shuster for coming to Savannah three different times to look at this project personally. We are very excited about this. Let's pass this bill today. Let's get the Senate to pass it. Let's get the House and the Senate moving, and let's get Georgians and the whole Southeast back to work. ____________________
