Wayne Gilchrest: “I am not about to insult the Corps of Engineers, I am not about to insult anybody. But we as Members of Congress have…”

“I am not about to insult the Corps of Engineers, I am not about to insult anybody. But we as Members of Congress have the responsibility of oversight of all Federal agencies. When we see some peculiar numbers in Federal agencies that are not correct, we investigate. That is what we have done. So the cost-benefit analysis in 1996, no; it was redone in 1997 and it was turned down; it was redone in 1998 and turned down by the Washington Corps; and it was redone in 1999 and also turned down. That is one of the oversight responsibilities that we have. We are not stopping maintenance of these channels to the Port of Baltimore. None of the maintenance will be stopped. The Corps says, and other agencies, but the Corps, who we are talking about here now, their numbers show, and we have checked them out, that there will be no jobs lost in the Port of Baltimore if we do not deepen the C&D Canal because there will be no commerce lost in the C&D Canal if it is not deepened because more than half, 60 to 70 percent of the ships that use that canal right now, with plenty of draft, choose not to use it.”