Congressional Record, Volume 154 Issue 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)

[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5824-H5826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PROVIDING REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES INCURRED BY MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE
ON LEVEE SAFETY

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6040) to amend the Water Resources
Development Act of 2007 to clarify the authority of the Secretary of
the Army to provide reimbursement for travel expenses incurred by
members of the Committee on Levee Safety.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 6040

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. COMMITTEE ON LEVEE SAFETY.

Section 9003(f) of the Water Resources Development Act of
2007 (33 U.S.C. 3302(f)) is amended by striking ``To the
extent amounts are made available in advance in
appropriations Acts,'' and inserting ``Subject to the
availability of appropriations,''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) and the gentlewoman from Virginia
(Mrs. Drake) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.

General Leave

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and to include extraneous materials on H.R. 6040.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.

[[Page H5825]]

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 6040, introduced by the ranking member of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Mica, and the ranking
member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources Environment, Mr. Boozman,
makes a technical change to title IX of the Water Resources Development
Act of 2007.
Title IX of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 establishes
the framework for the creation of the National Levee Safety Program to
enhance the safety of levees and those living in levee-protected areas.
In the 3 years since hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Nation has
refocused its attention to the safety and reliability of flood-control
structures and how lives and livelihoods can be affected by their
failure.
It is especially evident that to our colleagues from the States of
Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois, who have been experiencing the challenges
of flooding from the Mississippi River and its tributary system over
the past few weeks. The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
has held numerous hearings on the condition of the Nation's levees and
other flood-control structures.
Throughout these hearings, one consistent theme was readily apparent,
the condition of the Nation's flood control infrastructure is, at best,
unknown, and in a few notable instances, is in desperate need for
repair and upgrading. The subcommittee received testimony from noted
experts in flood control infrastructure that of the thousands of miles
of Federal, State, local, and privately owned levees, in this country
little is known about the current condition, including whether levees
were designed to meet current conditions or whether they have been
properly maintained by the non-Federal interests.

{time} 1645

Although rare, failure of flood control structures, such as levees,
does occur, and has become more frequent in recent years, and actually,
in the last recent weeks.
Levees are typically built in a certain location and to a specified
height to provide a certain level of protection. However, the level of
protection provided by a levee may change with time, due to natural or
manmade changes. Natural changes may include land subsidence,
sedimentation, vegetative growth in the floodway, or the potential
implications of climate change.
Land use changes in an area such as upstream development, and the
loss of natural upstream storage capacity, can induce hydrologic
changes, including faster runoff that will reduce the level of
protection provided by a levee.
Given the important flood damage reduction and development
opportunities provided by levees, it is important for the Nation to
understand the true nature and condition of our flood control
infrastructure, as well as to develop a comprehensive national policy
to address issues related to the construction, operation and
maintenance of projects and other management techniques for flood
damage reduction.
In that light, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
included language in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 for
the creation of a national Committee on Levee Safety.
The committee would be chaired by the Corps of Engineers and would
include experts from around the Nation, working towards a short-term
recommendation to Congress for the creation of an effective and
efficient National Levee Safety Program.
The House and Senate conferees on the Water Resources Development Act
of 2007 agreed on the importance of soliciting the recommendations of
the Nation's leading experts in levee safety to aid in the drafting of
a future National Levee Safety Program. Whatever recommendations are
made by the Committee on Levee Safety, these recommendations will be
referred back to the Congress for enactment in future legislation.
It is my understanding that the Corps has been working towards the
creation of the committee, including the identification of a broad
array of experts in levee safety. Unfortunately, the Corps believes it
has hit a roadblock due to the specific wording of the authorization
language that has prevented the Corps from utilizing available funding
to pay for the travel expenses of the committee members.
H.R. 6040 is a simple modification to the existing authorization
language to ensure that the Corps can utilize already identified
funding to pay these expenses so that the Committee on Levee Safety can
formally be assembled and begin its important work.
I applaud my colleagues on the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, Ranking Member Mica, and the ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment for volunteering to
move this legislation through the House.
It is my hope that the other body can, also, quickly move this
legislation to the President's desk so that the Levee Safety Committee
can begin its important work and complete it later this summer.
I urge adoption of this legislation.
Madam Speaker, I submit the following for the Record.

American Society of

Civil Engineers,

Washington, DC, June 23, 2008.
Hon. James Oberstar,
Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Hon. John Mica,
Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman and Congressman Mica: I am writing on
behalf of the more than 140,000 members of the American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to support passage of H.R.
6040, a bill to amend the Water Resources Development Act
(WRDA) of 2007 to clarify the authority of the Secretary of
the Army to provide reimbursement for travel expenses
incurred by members of the Committee on Levee Safety.
As you recall, ASCE was a strong supporter of legislation
to enact a national levee safety program in WRDA 2007. We
believe that it is essential to clarify that the members of
the Committee on Levee Safety be eligible to receive
reimbursement for their travel incurred as a result of their
volunteering to work on the Committee. The outcome of the
Committee's study undoubtedly will have an important bearing
on future legislative efforts to improve the safety of the
nation's levee systems.
Sincerely yours,
David G. Mongan,
President.

I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. DRAKE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, we have seen in the gulf region and now along the
Mississippi River what can happen when hurricane and flood protection
infrastructure is inadequate or fails to perform. Yet more Americans
are moving to coastal areas where the risk of hurricanes and floods is
great.
In the south Atlantic region, the coastal population grew 51 percent
from 1980 to 2000, and this trend is expected to continue. Along the
Gulf of Mexico, the population has increased 38 percent from 1980 to
2000, and this trend is also expected to continue.
We do not know where the next hurricane or flood will hit, but we do
know that many of our major cities, including parts of Washington,
D.C., have a greater probability of flooding than did New Orleans.
For example, the City of Sacramento, California, has almost twice as
many people as New Orleans; yet it has less flood protection than any
other major city in America. Cities like Houston, St. Louis, and Miami
also are at risk. We cannot treat citizens of these cities differently
unless we have a policy reason that we can explain and justify to our
constituents.
As we have learned from recent levee failures, our infrastructure is
aging. What we know about the existence and conditions of these other
levees we often learn when one fails or it is overwhelmed by a flood
event. For instance, the State of California in 2005 declared a state
of emergency in the Central Valley in anticipation of the failure of 24
levees. According to the State of California, it would cost more than
$5 billion to make critical delta levees, but not all delta levees,
stronger in the face of flood and seismic events in the Central Valley.
In the past, Congress has taken steps to ensure that the Nation's
flood damage reduction infrastructure is properly inventoried,
inspected, and assessed. In 1986, the Congress authorized the National
Dam Safety Program Act to conduct an inventory and assessments of all
dams nationwide. The National Inventory of Dams shows that 45

[[Page H5826]]

percent of all Federal dams are at least 50 years old and that 80
percent of them are at least 30 years old.
We know less about the status and capabilities of our levees. There
has never been a national inventory of levees. Little is known about
the current condition of both Federal and non-Federal levees, including
whether these levees were designed to meet current conditions or
whether they have been properly maintained by the non-Federal interest.
Over the decades, levees have been built by different entities, at
different times, and to different standards. They have been linked
together to provide a protective system, but with such a mixture of
conditions, the true level of protection may be in doubt.
Over time, development has taken place behind some of these levees so
much more may be at risk in terms of lives and economic resources.
There is so much that we do not know about the levees in America that
we cannot be sure how safe our cities and towns really are. We need
more information.
The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 included language
establishing a panel to develop recommendations for a National Levee
Safety Program. However, the Committee on Levee Safety is unable to
meet since a drafting error contained in the Water Resources
Development Act of 2007 inadvertently keeps the Army Corps of Engineers
from carrying out important work.
H.R. 6040 strikes the incorrect language and replaces it with
language stating the Committee on Levee Safety can develop its
recommendations subject to the availability of appropriations.
This technical change will allow the Corps of Engineers to convene
the Committee on Levee Safety as soon as this bill is enacted.
With the recommendations that will come from this Committee on Levee
Safety, the Congress can develop a national policy for levee safety and
a program to ensure that levees are functional and safe.
I urge all Members to support H.R. 6040.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6040, a bill
to make a technical correction to a Water Resources and Development Act
of 2007 provision authorizing the Secretary of the Army, acting through
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to establish a Committee on Levee
Safety.
Title IX of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 authorizes
the Corps to establish a committee of Federal, State, local, tribal,
and private sector experts on levee safety to develop recommendations
for a national levee safety program.
As the events of the last few years have clearly demonstrated, there
is a serious concern with the condition of the Nation's primary
structural flood control measures--the Nation's system of levees. These
structures, which range from the Federally constructed and maintained
levees along the lower Mississippi River and tributaries, to Federal,
State, and local levees nationwide, protect our lives and livelihoods
from the risks of flooding. Within the jurisdiction of the Corps of
Engineers alone, there are between 12,000 to 13,000 miles of levees
protecting everything from major metropolitan cities to towns and
townships throughout the nation. Without a doubt, the health, safety,
and security of countless lives depend on the resiliency and upkeep of
these essential structures.
We have all witnessed the result of levee failure. Just 2 years ago,
the flood walls surrounding three of the canals within the city of New
Orleans failed, and the result was a major metropolitan city being
underwater for days. Many of the communities impacted by this failure
are still struggling today.
Just this past month, we watched as the rivers of the Upper
Mississippi River and its tributaries overfilled their banks and
resulted in the unfortunate loss of life, as well as thousands of
families losing their homes, their cars, and their businesses to the
raging waters of the Mississippi River.
Cognizant of the importance of the Nation's system of levees, the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure included a provision
within the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 to create a
Committee on Levee Safety that would be tasked with developing
recommendations for a national levee safety program.
The Secretary of the Army will establish the committee, and it will
develop short-term recommendations to Congress for the creation of an
effective and efficient National Levee Safety Program. The House and
Senate conferees on the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 agreed
on the importance of soliciting the recommendations of the Nation's
leading experts in levee safety to aid in the drafting of a future
National Levee Safety Program. The recommendations made by the
committee on Levee Safety will be reported to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure.

It is my understanding that the Corps has been working toward the
creation of this committee, including the identification of a broad
array of experts in levee safety. Unfortunately, the Corps believes it
has hit a roadblock due to the specific wording of the authorization
language that has prevented the Corps from utilizing available funding
to pay for the travel expenses of the committee members.
H.R. 6040 is a simple modification to the existing authorization
language to ensure that the Corps can utilize already identified
funding to pay these expenses so that the Committee on Levee Safety can
formally be assembled and begin its important work.
I applaud my colleagues on the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, Ranking Member Mica, and the Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Congressman Boozman,
for sponsoring this legislation. It is my hope that the other body can
quickly move this legislation to the President's desk, so that the
Committee on Levee Safety can begin its important work later this
summer.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
Mrs. DRAKE. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I have no further
requests for time, and I yield back and ask for support for this
measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6040.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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