Political Quotes

“I first want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for the hard work that they have done on this piece of legislation. My amendment is a simple one. As we all recognize, the Army Corps of Engineers provides invaluable assistance to financially strapped communities through its general construction fund, specifically for wastewater and water improvements and, in past years, has allocated specifically funds for this purpose. However, this year's report does not include any money for this account. So the amendment I offer would direct that $44 million, which is 3 percent of the total allocation for construction projects in the Army Corps of Engineers, be set aside to support environmental infrastructure programs specifically for financially distressed communities around the country. {time} 1445 As we know, Mr. Chairman, there are approximately $298 billion of unmet needs for wastewater and stormwater treatment that are projected over the next 20 years. Of that, about 15 to 20 percent represents water treatment, and that percentage is expected to grow over time because of increases in Federal regulations. In older cities, a single system, in fact, combines both stormwater and sewage; and rain, obviously, and snow can overwhelm those systems and present tremendous challenges.…”