Ed Whitfield: “Chairman Shuster, I want to thank you and Ranking Member Napolitano for agreeing to bring this important legislation to…”

“Chairman Shuster, I want to thank you and Ranking Member Napolitano for agreeing to bring this important legislation to the floor. I will tell you, last September the Army Corps of Engineers made a decision that at the 10 dams located on the Cumberland River, they would put up a barrier of fishing near these dams in the tailwaters. Despite opposition from the Governors of Tennessee and Kentucky, the Fish and Wildlife Services of Kentucky and Tennessee, Senator Alexander, Senator Corker, Congressman Jim Cooper, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Steve Fincher, myself, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and others--we wrote letters to the Corps. We had public meetings with the Corps. We sent petitions to the Corps. We had phone calls with the Corps, and asked them to delay the implementation, primarily because of the sequestration and the amount of money that it would take to put these barriers up, which would be almost $3 million. Despite our best efforts, and we had meetings at which 400 to 500 people attended, they refused to delay the implementation. So I rise today to support this Senate bill because it delays the implementation for 2 years. I want to thank the gentlelady for bringing up the safety issue. All of us are very much concerned about the safety issue.…”