Rick Larsen: “I rise today in support of H.R. 6184. This bill extends section 214 authority of the Water Resources Development Act of…”

“I rise today in support of H.R. 6184. This bill extends section 214 authority of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 through 2016. As my good friend and colleague from Florida just noted, many Members of Congress want to make this a permanent program. I am one of those Members. However, we were able to get to a point where we could move it from the annual reauthorizations that we were doing, which is why it has been reauthorized six or seven times, to a 5-year reauthorization at this point. This program allows local governments to fund additional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff time to expedite the processing of permits for infrastructure and ecosystem restoration projects. Section 214 was enacted by Congress because the Corps of Engineers' permitting process had become cumbersome for both Corps staff and for applicants as the number of permit applications rose. By funding additional staff to work on specific, time-intensive permits, existing Corps staff is now able to process significant permit backlogs more quickly.”