Contact:
Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-9797
Katie Brown Katie_Brown@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-2160
Statement of Senator James M. Inhofe
Legislative Hearing on the “Water Resources Development Act
of 2012”
Environment & Public Works Committee
Thursday, November 15, 2012
I
would like to start by commending you, Madam Chairman, for your leadership and
dedication to addressing the nation’s infrastructure challenges.
Everyone
knows that the Chairman and I don’t always see eye to eye, but infrastructure
is one of the issues that we do agree on.
As a result, the Chairman and I have formed a strong partnership to
develop comprehensive, bipartisan infrastructure legislation. Most recently, we came together with our
colleagues to pass a highway bill despite numerous challenges. Not everyone thought we could get it done,
but we proved them wrong.
Now,
this Committee is turning its attention to the nation’s water resources
infrastructure. Like other types of
infrastructure, water resources infrastructure provides a good return on our
investment in the form of economic benefits, job creation, and helping provide
protection from flooding and other natural disasters.
A
Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) authorizes studies, projects, and policy
changes to address the nation’s pressing water resources challenges. Ideally, Congress should pass a WRDA bill
every two years. Unfortunately, WRDA was
last enacted in November 2007: five years ago.
Since then, not only have our nation’s water resources policy issues
grown exponentially, but there are numerous studies and projects across the
country awaiting Congressional authorization.
In
my home state of Oklahoma, we have our own share of water resources
challenges. These run the gamut from
flood control to inland navigation to water supply. Oklahoma’s, and the nation’s, water resources
issues, studies and projects cannot afford to be kept waiting due to Congressional
inaction.
So,
I am pleased that the Committee is taking a critical step towards the development
of the next WRDA bill by having today’s legislative hearing on the Chairman’s
draft. I would like to thank our
witnesses for testifying before us this morning.
I
believe that this draft is a good start. Chairman Boxer is to be commended for producing
a draft; as many of us know, often putting pen to paper and kick-starting this
process can be challenging. However, as with any legislative proposal, there
are things that I like, there are things that need to be improved, and there
are things that I have serious concerns with.
Our witnesses are here today to provide their feedback on the draft in
order to inform our thinking on how to best address the nation’s water
resources challenges. I hope our witnesses
will be candid in their commentary and point out anything they feel was left of
out of the draft. With the valuable
information gained from this hearing, I expect that the Committee’s work on this
bill will continue into next year.
Unfortunately,
this year’s election did not go as I would have liked. I am sure the Chairman disagrees with me on
this. However, infrastructure advocates
can rest assured that they have a strong ally in my friend, Senator Vitter, who
will become Ranking Member of this Committee next year. I am confident that he and the Chairman will
continue the tradition of bipartisanship as they work to address the nation’s
infrastructure challenges. And, I will
continue to play a pivotal role as a senior member of this Committee.
Thank
you and I look forward to hearing the witnesses’ testimony.
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