Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to bring up this amendment today. This amendment is pretty simple. In division E, section 106 has a provision that says that no funds in this act or any other act may be used to carry out any activities that would include transferring or effectively modifying the mission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I understand that it is pretty clear plain language, section 106, division E. The problem is this: If the performance of the agency were stellar, I would understand that, and perhaps we would try and protect it, but let me throw out a few statistics painting a picture of what it is that we are dealing with. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, today, has a $100 billion backlog in authorized projects--$100 billion. These projects are projects like sustaining communities, resilience projects, flood protection, ecological restoration, deepening navigation channels. Let me tell a little about the performance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Madam Chair. You can look at ports in other countries. They have been able to facilitate the Post-Panamax, the larger vessels. In the United States, we are years or decades behind where we should be, putting our ports at a disadvantage, resulting in our consumers paying higher prices for those goods that are being shipped.…”