[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 78 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S3249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WRRDA CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I wanted to spend a moment or two talking 
about the Water Resources Reform and Development Act conference report, 
and I want to say to my colleagues, both in this Chamber and in the 
House, some improvement in the WRRDA reauthorization has happened, but 
it is not nearly enough.
  From 1986 to 2010, the average new authorizations were over $3 
billion a year, and the average amount of money was $1.8 billion a 
year. So we have been going backwards all that time. In this report, 
they did deauthorize less than 10 percent of the $80 billion in 
backlogged projects. Their attempt to take some of the political nature 
out of it is a good attempt, but it is not nearly complete and will be 
gamed, just as we have seen in the past.
  What really hasn't happened in the WRRDA bill, and partly because 
they do not have the authority to do it, is to change the Corps of 
Engineers. There has never been a project the Corps of Engineers 
doesn't want to build, and there has never been a study they do not 
want to do, because what that means is their budget continues and their 
jobs continue. So we do not have that distinct independent voice we can 
rely upon because bureaucratic malaise and self-interest trumps it 
every time.
  There is another critical problem with this report. The inland 
waterways trust fund is out of money. We steal it every year. Like 
Social Security, the money has been stolen and spent. Yet they change 
the requirement for inland waterway repairs. It used to be if it was 
under $8 million, we would pay for it out of the general fund--not the 
trust fund--but now they have moved that to $20 million. In essence, 
what that says is we are going to do things that are the responsibility 
of the trust fund but we are going to charge the American taxpayer 
rather than the users of the inland waterway to do these repairs. We 
have a lot of those in need of repair on the McClellan-Kerr waterway in 
Oklahoma.
  So there is a little sleight of hand, another smoke and mirrors set 
from the Congress of the United States to the American people about not 
being truthful about what they are doing. We need a priority of 
projects. We need discipline within the Corps of Engineers. There is 
none. There is no discipline. It is turf protection and bureaucratic 
excess continued as normal.
  What we should have done is to deauthorize about $40 billion worth of 
the projects that are presently in line and really put a priority on 
what is most important for the Nation, not what is most important for a 
certain Congressman or a certain Senator to look good at home. 
Unfortunately, we didn't have the courage to do that. We didn't have 
the strength of character to do that. We wouldn't stand and defend 
that. So what we did is make minimal progress--and there is some 
progress; I will admit it--but it is certainly not enough to get my 
vote. When we fix symptoms of disease rather than fixing the real 
disease, all we do is delay the onset of the cure, and that is exactly 
what we have done with the water resources conference report.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I ask unanimous consent to address the Senate for up to 
5 minutes as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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