On the recordJuly 9, 2013
I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan for being a strong advocate for sufficiently maintaining his waterways and the Nation's waterways. These ports and channels are very important, not only to the Great Lakes' economy, but to our national economy, and I want to commend him for his attention to the needs of his constituents. He is extremely knowledgeable from a professional point of view and certainly as a Member of Congress, who voted to the needs of his constituents. The committee has heard from many Members, including from those from the Great Lakes, who are concerned that the administration's budget processing has left small, remote, subsistence ports across the Nation unable to continue to conduct business due to inadequate or oftentimes nonexistent maintenance. These are what prompted the committee to include a minimum of $30 million to be made available to such ports. The Great Lakes' ports will certainly be eligible for this funding. I believe our bill addresses his concerns to the greatest priority possible in light of other priorities which he mentioned in our bill, which are, obviously, balancing the Federal budget and controlling spending. I want to thank our colleague for bringing the concerns of the Great Lakes' ports to our attention. We will do our level best to work with the gentleman. We honor his request. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will read. The Clerk read as follows: Sec. 103.…
