Earl Blumenauer: “I deeply appreciate Congressman Hall's work in the water resource area. I know he comes from an area that is challenged…”

“I deeply appreciate Congressman Hall's work in the water resource area. I know he comes from an area that is challenged in terms of water resources and environmental threats and has long been a leader before he came to Congress. I deeply appreciate his leadership in this regard, and I was pleased to partner with him on this amendment because it will strengthen the bill to target effectiveness and support where the needs are greatest. As Mr. Hall mentioned, there is a deep concern that we target the resources where they will make the most difference. There is another adage that I would offer up, and that is, 'Fix it first.' We are dealing with an aging water infrastructure problem that is hundreds of billions of dollars, national in scope. The work that the Transportation Infrastructure Committee has done already in the last 12 weeks is moving us forward on an aggressive agenda. But by being able to target this money in areas where the need is the greatest, not to add to the inventory that is already overloaded, I think is an important area of priority.”