Nick Lampson: “I too rise to oppose this Republican budget. My concerns are the tax cuts and the costs that our citizens will face…”

“I too rise to oppose this Republican budget. My concerns are the tax cuts and the costs that our citizens will face because of them. This budget ignores the needs of many of the folks that work in the petrochemical industry, particularly of Southeast, but of any manufacturing activity on any waterway in our country. Cutting taxes and government spending foolishly ignores maintenance of some of our highways of commerce for many industries, and even our military. This budget provides half the amount needed to keep our navigable waterways open. Recently, one of the channels in my district shoaled up and caused ships to begin to hit bottom and, therefore, having to lighten their loads. The ship traffic increased going to the plants. It began to cost not only the Coast Guard more to protect them, but also the plants themselves were losing significant profits. One company was paying $75,000 a day. That, too, could be considered a tax of us not doing our business in the right way. This budget lowers the Corps of Engineers' budget from 72 percent of its needs to 50 percent of its needs.”