David Hobson: “I appreciate the fair and bipartisan manner in which the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) as our chairman has used…”

“I appreciate the fair and bipartisan manner in which the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) as our chairman has used to put this supplemental report together. I fully support the list of congressionally directed projects that it contains. I encourage Members to support these projects and to vote for final passage of the underlying Energy and Water bill. When we first brought this bill to the floor roughly a month ago, I expressed my concern about the absence of detailed project guidance on how to spend this much money. The supplemental report that is before the committee today resolves that concern. Chairman Visclosky and I, and our respective staffs, engaged in a lengthy bipartisan effort to sort through the thousands of earmark requests that we received. We screened the large number of requests to select the projects that had the most merit and were the best fit for inclusion in the Energy and Water bill. We have complied fully with Chairman Obey's direction to reduce the value of our energy earmarks by one-half compared to the amount we funded in fiscal year 2006. The Corps of Engineers faces an enormous backlog of work, somewhere between $12 billion and $60 billion, and that is before the pending WRDA bill adds another $13 billion of unfunded requirements. There is a significant need for additional funding for water resources infrastructure, above and beyond what the administration requested.”