Sheila Jackson Lee: “I again thank the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee for this very critical work. My amendment speaks…”

“I again thank the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee for this very critical work. My amendment speaks to the need for robust funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' construction account by redirecting $100 million for increased funding for critical construction projects like those projects that are current and future projects throughout the Nation. As a Federal agency that collects and studies basic information pertaining to river and harbor, and flood and storm damage reduction, it is important that the Army Corps of Engineers and the construction unit have the funding to focus its resources around the Nation again. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plays a critical role in the building, maintaining, and expanding of the most critical of the Nation's infrastructures. The Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee has an important responsibility, and it is to ensure the safety of the Nation's waterways. Some of these waterways are in and around many of our States, particularly in the State of Texas. Not only do we have a concept of bayous, but, for example, we are surrounded in many parts by the Gulf. We have an enormous amount of water in rivers, and the Army Corps of Engineers is particularly important as it relates to flooding. But we have seen flooding across America. So this particular amendment is to ensure that resources are there as Americans face unusual flooding that has been occurring over the last decades.…”