Paul Broun: “My amendment would eliminate all funding provided in the bill for the Watershed Rehabilitation Program. Across the…”

“My amendment would eliminate all funding provided in the bill for the Watershed Rehabilitation Program. Across the United States, 11,000 dams have been constructed in local communities under this program for the purpose of mitigating flood conditions. Most of these dams were built in the 1940s and 1950s, and thousands of them are suspected to be in need of attention. Of this amount, only about 120 dams have been repaired so as to extend their use into modern times. Indeed, given the advances of engineering technology in the last 50 years, these refurbished dams may last well into the next century, but Federal funding to maintain these many-State infrastructure projects is simply not sustainable. Under the farm bill passed earlier this year, the Watershed Rehabilitation Program was authorized to receive both increased mandatory as well as discretionary funding. However, the President has not requested funding for this program in over 3 years, in large part because he recognizes that the responsibility to maintain these projects must ultimately fall on the local project sponsors. Likewise, over in the Senate, zero dollars has been provided via discretionary spending in recent years; and according to the Congressional Research Service, it is expected that the mandatory spending will ultimately be canceled permanently. In fact, the Watershed Rehabilitation Program has never been allowed to spend mandatory funding.…”