Energy and Water Development and Relaed Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, the Army Corps of Engineers construction general account permits the Corps to enter into agreements with local governments and municipalities to reimburse these entities for certain funds. This allows cities across the country in both Republican and Democratic districts to take on public works projects and leverage the fact that they will later be reimbursed by the Federal Government.

The problem we face today is that millions, hundreds of millions of dollars are owed to localities across the country, and the account to pay them back this year is slated to have only $10 million in it. Last year, that amount was $25 million. It has gone down by $15 million.

So for just a second, I want to give you an example of a wonderful public project in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas. The San Antonio River Authority, or SARA, recently undertook a sizable project along the San Antonio River, called the Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration project. It has been an effort to extend, both to the north and the south, the wonderful San Antonio River Walk in San Antonio, Texas, one of the crown jewels for tourism and culture in our city. Despite the fact that this project was completed sometime ago, the city is still owed much money from the Corps.

This is just one example of a wonderful public project where the Federal Government owes our cities or local entities a substantial amount of money. There are other examples in Texas, in Harris County, the Brays Bayou project in Harris County, where $146,885,000 is pending; the White Oak Bayou project in Harris County, where $73 million is pending; also, the Lower Colorado River Basin, Onion Creek, in Austin has $5 million pending. I know there is a big project in Florida.

So my effort, my amendment, is an attempt to expedite getting these local agencies paid back because they are owed so much money. I know that as we do our budget and we do our appropriations, we are talking about doling out money in the future to fund programs, but these are projects that were already completed with the promise that they would be reimbursed. They have not been reimbursed to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.

I hope that as a gesture of good faith we can increase this account by $10 million. Bear in mind, that would still be $5 million less than was dedicated to this account in the last year.

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Mr. Chairman, I know the appropriations process is a tough one. You are making difficult choices among many things.

I would just point out that, in this account, as you know, there have been funds that have gone unallocated in recent years in this very account from which I withdraw. Again, our local agencies in Republican and Democratic districts have already committed these funds with the promise that they would be reimbursed. A failure to reimburse them is essentially saying that we are going to stiff them on money that we said that we would pay them. This is a very small amount given the amount of money that is owed by the Corps to our local agencies.

I would ask you for your reconsideration now, and certainly, as I know how Congressman Hurd feels and many others, I would ask for your help in remedying this situation.

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