On the recordJuly 14, 2011
The lady before me said it so eloquently and so simply: Why do we want to spend a whole lot of money? We're already in a crisis now. Huge debates about how are we going to control Federal spending. And here we find this proposal to drop another $25 million to do a study that we have already done before. First of all, we could save a lot of money in this, and that's a good idea. Of course, why is it that somebody would make the proposal after we've done a study that's supposed to work for 17 years and want to do it all over again? Well, it's because they didn't like the results of the first study, quite obviously. What did the study prioritize? Well, it prioritized, first of all, protecting human lives. That's not exactly a bad prioritization. And that's in the context of flood control. But it also talked about their livelihoods, not just their lives but their livelihoods. And that was the transportation part. That should also be a part of what the Missouri River is about. And of course the water supply and the safety. Now the proposal is to make the priorities on something else. Look, the Missouri River is a great resource. We need to use it that way and prioritize our people, their property, and their prosperity.
