Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to this amendment, and I think it might be worthwhile to explain for just a moment what the small watershed program is and what the small watershed rehabilitation program is all about. These were efforts begun in the 1940s and 1950s by this body in an effort to address flooding conditions. Under this program, 10,000 small earthen dams were built across the country, working in interlocking series to prevent downstream flooding by capturing flood waters at the source. Now, like anything after 50 years, its life expectancy can be expected to come to a conclusion. In 2000, we created the rehabilitation program to extend the life of these structures by additional time, and it now appears, based on the modern techniques being used, engineering technologies, that these 50-year structures will wind up with a 150-year total life expectancy in many instances. This is a program where the rehabilitation resources are allocated based on need as scored by USDA. It's not an earmark program. It's not a targeted program. The money is made available, and as the structures need work, they are prioritized. It's a wonderful way to address this issue. Now, if you look at the amount of property and life and infrastructure that have been protected in the life of these programs, it's almost incalculable. In Oklahoma, in the range of $81 million a year worth of property has been saved. My colleague alluded to programs that only affect limited numbers of areas.…”