Political Quotes

“I rise this evening to offer an amendment, along with my friend, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Hahn), to ensure that the Federal Government meets its obligations to our ports, to our harbors, and, frankly, to the American people. Just last year, this body overwhelmingly passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, WRRDA, by a vote of 412-4. It was later then signed into law by President Obama. WRRDA includes a glide path to increase harbor maintenance funding to a level collected through the harbor maintenance tax, directing Congress this fiscal year to spend 69 percent of all of the funds collected from the user fee of that harbor maintenance. Now, that is just 69 percent this year with a 10-year glide path, and we are pleased that we are going to be able to use all of that funding for its intended purpose. While I was hoping to achieve full expenditure for the trust fund right away, I was willing to compromise on this glide path as a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the current version of the Energy and Water bill falls short of the mark by just over $36 million. I would like thank the chairman for working with us on a bipartisan and, I should say, a bicoastal way with my coming from the west side of Michigan, the west coast of Michigan--and we have got the West Coast of the country with California--and for finding a bipartisan solution to hit the target and offset the cost by reducing spending elsewhere.…”