Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) has been named to the U.S. House conference committee for the Water Resources Reform and Development Act.
Regarding this, Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement:
“ I am pleased to be selected as one of twelve House conferees for the Water Resources Reform and Development Act as we work with the Senate on a final bill to be voted on in the House and Senate and signed into law by the President. I pledge to continue to fight to ensure that the provision that are helpful to the state of Florida and retained in the final conference bill and will continue to fight for my language that would include projects that receive a Chief of Engineers report up to one year after enactment of the bill.
“I offered a amendment addressing the fact that over 15 projects in 10 states will not be eligible for authorization. Under the bill’s current arbitrary deadline, critical Corps of Engineers projects in states such as Florida, Texas, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Oregon, Missouri, Maine, South Carolina and possibly others will have to wait years before being able to move their projects to completion.
“The previous two Water Resources Development Acts each took 7 years to reauthorize, delaying important environmental restoration projects and slowing preparation for larger Post-Panamax ships. Compounding the problem, the sequester cuts and recent government shutdown has slowed the Corps of Engineers even further. These states simply can’t afford to wait for these critical infrastructure improvements.
“I pledge to work to make sure that Florida’s Ports, including JaxPort and the 15 other important projects in 10 states are not ignored. ”
[mappress]
Press Release, November 15, 2013