On the recordFebruary 17, 2011
The 11th in Illinois, which is my district, is very, very focused and very reliant upon the ability to move commerce, the ability to have transportation, the ability for free flow of goods back and forth. That's a major, major industry in my district. A lot of jobs rely on that. One of the great assets we have is the ability to float goods. The fact of the matter is, when we talk about closing the locks and dams, we talk about the entire Chicago region's water and sewer infrastructure system is built on the idea that water flows out of Lake Michigan via the lock system; and cutting those off would completely devastate the area. Possibly closing the locks permanently is totally not a solution to the problem. At a time when we are addressing a continuing resolution, we should give the Army Corps of Engineers time to finish their study. Let's continue to be cautious. We're talking about $30 billion in commerce that's going to be affected in my area because we want to quickly make a judgment on this.
