David Hobson: “I rise in opposition of the amendment to reduce funding for the Corps of Engineers construction account. This account is…”

“I rise in opposition of the amendment to reduce funding for the Corps of Engineers construction account. This account is already chronically underfunded by the administration, and it has been in the past. And there's already a backlog of several billion dollars of Corps construction projects. Projects already underway, I'm going to talk about one here, just to give you an example of what happens, such as the Olmsted Lock and Dam, wind up costing far more and taking far longer to complete because of funding constraints in this account. The subcommittee is trying to do the responsible thing by dedicating sufficient funds to address this backlog. Our priority is on completing projects that are already underway and limiting new starts. The Olmsted Dam, an example. It was supposed to be completed in 20 years and for a cost of $700 million. Because we didn't do it and fund it right, and money was taken and put into other accounts, that's now grown to $1.5 billion to finish this very needed dam on the Ohio River. And the project still isn't done.”