[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 78 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3250-S3255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WRRDA CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, later today we are going to have the 
opportunity to pass a very important bill,

[[Page S3251]]

the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, the WRRDA bill. The 
Presiding Officer knows firsthand the importance of this legislation to 
our ports of New Jersey and Maryland. This is a very important bill, 
and it is going to get passed. It is going to get signed by the 
President. It is a bipartisan bill.
  I congratulate Senator Boxer and Senator Vitter, our chair and 
ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, for 
developing a process where Democrats and Republicans, all members of 
the Senate, could work to develop the very best water resources bill 
for our country. This follows in the best traditions of the last 
Congress, when we were able to pass MAP-21, the surface transportation 
reauthorization that provided for the building of our roads, our 
bridges, our transit systems, and the FAA, which dealt with our air 
highways, dealing with the most modern air system that we could 
have. We are now moving forward with the Water Resources Reform and 
Development Act that deals with our Nation's locks, levees, dams, 
ports, channels, and harbors. There is something in common with both 
this bill and the two other bills I talked about, the highway and 
Transportation bill, and the aviation bill. They all involve economic 
progress and growth, planning for our future, creating the types of job 
opportunities we need, and having a modern infrastructure in order to 
carry that out.

  This bill is vitally important for my State of Maryland. The Port of 
Baltimore is an economic engine for the State of Maryland. We have the 
ninth busiest port in the Nation in Baltimore. The port is No. 1 in the 
country as far as the roll-on/roll-off automobile and truck import-
export service. We are also ranked No. 1 on ores, sugar, and gypsum--
the bulk products. Our port is critically important to this country, 
critically important to our national economy, and vitally important to 
the Maryland economy.
  Last summer the Port of Baltimore entered into a new contract with 
several car manufacturers--including Mazda--in order to increase its 
traffic within the Port of Baltimore.
  My point is that there are tens of thousands of jobs in my community 
directly and indirectly related to the activities of the port.
  Why is this legislation so important? I will give many reasons, but 
the primary reason is that we need to make sure we have acceptable 
sites to deal with the dredge material in order to maintain our 
harbor's depth so that the big cargo ships can come into our port. That 
has been a continuous struggle for many years.
  Several years ago in Maryland we developed the Poplar Island 
solution. Poplar Island is a barrier island that was disappearing in 
the Chesapeake. At one time it was habitable, but it is no longer 
habitable. It was just about gone. Before Poplar Island, the popular 
thought was to just pick a site and dump the material and not worry 
about it. But Poplar Island is not only a site where we can put the 
dredge material, it is an environmental restoration. It provides a 
haven or wildlife, birds, and habitat. It offers the original purpose 
for a barrier island, and that is to protect against the extreme 
effects of storms. So this is a win-win situation. It gives us a dredge 
site for the materials so we can keep the harbor at the proper depth, 
it gives us an environmental plus so we can deal with wildlife in the 
Chesapeake, and it protects against the extreme weather conditions that 
occur too often.
  It was absolutely essential to change the authorization in order to 
be able to continue to use Poplar Island as a site for dredge material. 
In this legislation, we get that done. We accelerated the Army Corps' 
reports, we got it back in time, and now that location will be 
available for many years to come in order to accept the dredge 
materials so we can keep the harbor dredged at the appropriate level.
  There is also authorization in this bill to make sure our harbor is 
maintained at its current depth. We have gone even further than that. 
We have planned far into the future by now authorizing Mid Bay, the 
next Poplar Island for the Chesapeake. It is a barrier island that is 
disappearing, and it will be restored and used for economic purposes 
and dredge material, and it will also be converted into a positive for 
the environment and protect us against storms.
  That is what this bill means to my State, and that is just one 
example. We could mention examples all over the country.
  With regard to the Chesapeake Bay, I have taken to the floor many 
times to talk about it. Mr. President, $1 trillion of our economy comes 
from the bay. Watermen, fisheries, tourists, commerce, and real estate 
values are all affected by the quality of the Chesapeake Bay.
  We made commonsense reforms to the environmental restoration program 
in the bill we will be voting on this afternoon. There is a lot in 
here.
  I thank Senator Warner, my colleague from Virginia. The oyster 
restoration program is also in this bill, which is vital in order to 
restore the oyster crops in the Chesapeake Bay. We are making progress 
on oysters in the bay, and we need to continue that effort. The bill we 
will have a chance to vote on this afternoon will allow us to continue 
to make progress on oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay.
  There is a continuing authorities program--reforms to those programs. 
I mention that because some people may not pick this up, the legal 
significance of the changes we are making on the continuing 
authorization programs. Those programs will help our smaller 
communities.
  In Maryland and New Jersey there are a lot of smaller communities 
that very much depend upon projects which may not be as big as Poplar 
Island or Mid Bay, but they are very important for the local community.
  For example, in Cumberland we have a dam that needs to be removed. As 
a result of the enactment of the legislation we are going to be taking 
up this afternoon, it is going to be easier to get that type of project 
accomplished.
  We have barrier island restorations off Crisfield on the lower 
Eastern Shore which will be assisted by the changes we make in this 
legislation. We deauthorize certain portions of two channels of the 
lower shore. That is important because the community needs and wants to 
have boat slips in that area. By deauthorizing, they can do that, and 
that will improve the community.
  Those are the commonsense changes we have made as a result of the 
legislation we will be voting on this afternoon.
  I want to mention one other provision that is in this bill, and I 
really want to thank the conferees. I was proud to be a part of the 
conference committee. Senator Boxer and Senator Vitter conferred with 
us frequently, and we came out with a good, bipartisan, bicameral bill. 
This is a responsible bill that will help the economy.
  We also put in the report reauthorization of the State revolving 
fund. We have not reauthorized the State revolving fund since 1993. 
This is a program that is critical to our State and local governments 
in dealing with how we treat our waste. The wastewater treatment 
facility plants get their funding from the State revolving fund. It is 
important to get it authorized, and that is in the bill we will be 
taking up this afternoon.
  I introduced the reauthorization bill in 2009. In that bill I would 
have liked to have seen the program more robust than it is today. This 
is a reauthorization that allows us to at least make some significant 
improvements in the State revolving fund.
  We deal with green infrastructure and make it easier for green 
infrastructure in our wastewater treatment plants. We address water 
recapture and reuse. Water is a valuable commodity. We take steps in 
this bill to do that.
  As to energy efficiency, we waste a lot of energy in our water 
infrastructure. This bill makes us more energy efficient, which helps 
our country and helps our environment. It helps economically 
disadvantaged communities have a better shot at dealing with wastewater 
issues.
  There is a lot in here that will help everything from the smallest to 
the largest community and our economy. This is a good day for our 
Nation because we are going to pass the bill. The bill passed with over 
400 votes in the House of Representatives. We are going to pass this 
bill and the President is going to sign it. This is a good day. Our 
water infrastructure will have a brighter future. The modernization of 
our

[[Page S3252]]

water infrastructure gives us a brighter future for our economy.
  I was proud to be on the conference committee that developed the bill 
and proud to join the Presiding Officer from New Jersey in moving this 
bill forward, and I look forward to the vote this afternoon.
  Mr. CARDIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. 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. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the 
Water Resources Reform and Development Act. We are going to be 
considering the final conference report on that legislation and voting 
on it in a few hours. This WRRDA bill is a strong, bipartisan bill. It 
is a jobs bill. It is very much needed in our weak economy. That is why 
we need to move forward and finally pass this into law. It is also a 
pretty good example of how this place should work, how we can work in a 
bipartisan, constructive way, how we can move forward as an institution 
and find common ground on these sorts of important matters.
  Earlier this week the House passed the WRRDA bill 412 to 4. That is 
pretty much unheard of. I am not sure resolutions expressing admiration 
for Mother Teresa passed by that vote in the House, so that is a strong 
testament to the broad, bipartisan, pro-jobs nature of the bill. Again, 
it is because WRRDA has a sharp focus on what our country desperately 
needs right now: job creation, as well as improved storm and flood 
protection, and enhanced national commerce, particularly in our 
maritime sector.
  This bill invests in our Nation's waterborne assets and landside 
infrastructure to grow jobs and to keep us competitive in global 
markets. Ensuring our ports and waterways are operated and maintained, 
thereby improving the flow of commerce in that way, will create jobs. 
Being prepared for the Panama Canal expansion will increase imports and 
exports, and that will create jobs. Providing flood and storm damage 
protection for communities large and small and businesses all along our 
Nation's coasts and waterways is necessary, it is important, and will 
also create jobs. So let me underscore: The WRRDA bill will not only 
grow our economy, it will directly put Americans back to work.
  Let me mention some of the specifics of the bill. Before I talk about 
what the bill does, let me start with what it doesn't do. It absolutely 
does not increase the deficit. It absolutely does not contain any 
earmarks as defined under our rules or the House rules. In fact, the 
Wall Street Journal recently editorialized in strong support of the 
bill as a fiscally responsible way to address infrastructure needs. In 
fact, the bill even has a deauthorization provision--a mechanism to 
provide authorization offsets for the important and necessary positive 
authorizations the bill contains.
  Now what does the bill do? Well, Corps of Engineers reform and 
accountability, No. 1. That is very important. It includes commonsense 
solutions to streamline project delivery and environmental 
decisionmaking.
  The bill went to great lengths in making the Corps transparent and 
accountable to Congress and their non-Federal partners. For instance, 
this WRRDA requires the Corps to open their financial ledgers to show 
how taxpayer dollars are being spent and mandates timeframes and costs 
for feasibility studies which have taken several years and millions of 
dollars to complete. So it narrows those issues and constrains them.
  To strengthen the project delivery timeline, the bill includes 
language to speed up the environmental review process to ensure there 
are not unreasonable delays in getting projects built.
  The bill will also implement, for the first time ever, monetary 
penalties on the Corps for missed deadlines and reports. Failure to 
provide a specific report means funds from the general expenses account 
of the Civil Works Program are subtracted from that part of the Corps, 
and they go to the division of the Corps with responsibility for 
getting the work done. So there is appropriate penalty and incentive to 
make sure the work is done.
  WRRDA also authorizes 34 Corps projects for navigation, flood 
protection, and ecosystem restoration. But, as I said, it also includes 
a real deauthorization process to decrease the nearly $60 billion 
construction backlog and offset these new authorizations with equal or 
greater deauthorizations. I thank Senator Barrasso for this key 
provision. He authored it. It was refined and expanded by our 
colleagues in the House. I think it is a very important initiative.
  We also include a provision that began as a stand-alone bill by 
myself and Senator Nelson last year. It puts significant project 
management control in the hands of State, local, and private entities 
to try that on a pilot basis and to see if it leads to reduced delays 
and reduced costs. That is what we do with most highway projects. The 
Federal Highway Administration is not the project manager of those 
projects. It doesn't take the lead. That is what we should do with 
water projects as well and not demand that an already overburdened 
Corps of Engineers has to be the lead project manager on all of those 
projects.
  The second important category in this bill is the harbor maintenance 
trust fund. In order to advance our Nation's waterborne commerce and 
help drive our Nation's economy, this bill makes sweeping reforms to 
that trust fund. It is no secret that the harbor maintenance trust fund 
is grossly mismanaged and that in a good year half of the revenue going 
into that so-called trust fund is stolen--taken out--for completely 
unrelated purposes, even though that revenue is supposed to be 
dedicated for the purposes of the trust fund. We have to stop that. So 
WRRDA changes that status quo and requires a ramp-up in annual funding, 
incremental increases over 10 years to get to a full spend-out of trust 
fund revenue in 2025. Additional yearly harbor maintenance trust fund 
monies will be prioritized with ports which move 99 percent of our 
Nation's commerce--those high- and medium-use ports getting the highest 
prioritization. But there is also a limited but important low-use and 
underserved port set-aside to ensure adequate maintenance there and 
economic growth.

  WRRDA also adds additional metrics to the harbor maintenance trust 
fund, in addition to commercial tonnage. We now include oil and gas 
activity, commercial fishing, and transportation of persons--important 
metrics that were ignored previously in an unfair way.
  Without the full utilization of the harbor maintenance trust fund, 
negative impacts will be felt by manufacturers, producers, shippers, 
and carriers throughout America. They ultimately contribute to this 
trust fund to get dredging and other work done. We need to live up to 
our end of the deal and make sure that money is used for its intended 
purpose. That has never been more important than now with the expansion 
of the Panama Canal. We need to do the dredging. We need to be prepared 
for that economic opportunity.
  A third important category in the bill is the inland waterways trust 
fund--another trust fund also with significant but different problems. 
WRRDA looks beyond our harbors to address serious concerns related to 
the delivery of projects on that inland waterway system and helps 
accelerate the construction of aging locks and dams, many of which have 
far exceeded their project design life. According to the American 
Society of Civil Engineers, the average age of our locks is over 60 
years old and that continues to cause unwanted delays in the shipment 
of goods. By the year 2020, more than 80 percent of these locks will be 
functionally obsolete. This is extremely concerning, considering that 
more than 70 percent of our imports and exports travel this inland 
waterway system.
  Again, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that 
underinvestment in this inland waterway system cost our businesses $33 
billion in 2010, and that could rise to $49 billion in 2020 unless we 
act. This WRRDA bill takes action in the inland waterway trust fund, 
clears out some of the backlog

[[Page S3253]]

and clears out some of the things preventing important projects under 
that trust fund from getting done.
  Another very important category which I certainly deeply care about, 
considering the State I represent, is flood protection and levee 
safety. Not only does WRRDA authorize critical flood protection 
projects, but it also strengthens levee safety initiatives to provide 
critical funds to State and local agencies to make sure levees and 
flood protection systems stay up to par. There are over 15,000 miles of 
Federal levees and almost 100,000 miles of non-Federal levees 
protecting communities all around the country. However, many are graded 
as in unsatisfactory condition. These levees protect nearly 43 percent 
of the Nation's population, so we need to make sure they are strong and 
adequate. This levee safety initiative will provide national and local 
leadership the resources they need to promote sound technical practices 
and to keep up with aging levee and protection systems.
  Most important for this program is levee rehabilitation funding. It 
is imperative that our non-Federal sponsors have the ability, both 
technical and financial, to repair and rehabilitate levees. Storm surge 
and floodwaters are damaging to our economy. We must address this. In 
the experience of Hurricane Katrina, for instance, about 80 percent of 
the catastrophic flooding of the city of New Orleans was due directly 
to breaches in the levee system due to inadequate design or 
maintenance--flawed design at the beginning and inadequate maintenance 
continuing. Literally 80 percent of that catastrophic flooding was 
completely avoidable, completely manmade--that part of the disaster. We 
need to make sure that never happens again.
  Certainly, in all of these categories I am talking about, there are 
major benefits to Louisiana. I thank all of my Louisiana partners who 
have done so much to give me the information and the expertise we 
needed to address these important areas, including Morganza to the 
gulf, which is very important to Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, as 
well as our ecosystem restoration projects under the Louisiana Coastal 
Area Program, and many other important Louisiana priorities. Again, we 
could only address those properly with the full help and partnership of 
those Louisiana partners.
  In closing, I wish to thank many folks, and I will start with those 
Louisiana partners. As I said, they were instrumental in helping us get 
the Louisiana piece right, and I thank them, and that work will 
continue and that partnership will continue.
  I thank Chairman Barbara Boxer, a Washington, DC, partner on this 
bill. As she has said many times, the two of us don't agree on a whole 
lot of things, but we do agree on infrastructure needs and we do agree 
on this WRRDA bill, and we came together, as a result, very 
constructively, very productively on this infrastructure work, as we 
are doing right now on the next highway bill. Certainly that has been 
an important tradition at the EPW Committee, which we are continuing. 
The crucial element there is the will and determination to do it, and 
she always provided that will and determination, as did I. I thank her 
for being such a great partner.

  We also had great House partners: Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member 
Rahall. They exhibited real leadership in getting a House bill done to 
begin with and then working with us on a productive conference 
committee. I thank them and their staffs for all of their work.
  Speaking of staffs, I am deeply indebted to all of the staff work 
that went into this bill. It was very significant. The chair and I 
personally dealt with probably a couple dozen issues and semicrises 
that would crop up over time. Our staffs, in contrast, did that 
multiple times over--hundreds and hundreds of problems and issues 
before they developed to the Member level, literally hundreds and 
hundreds.
  I thank both staffs, but I am particularly indebted to my staff for 
all of their hard work, particularly Charles Brittingham, Zak Baig, 
Chris Tomassi, Sarah Veatch, Rebecca Louviere, Jill Landry, Luke Bolar, 
and Cheyenne Steel. They put enormous hours into this bill and I truly 
appreciate their work.
  I certainly want to also recognize and thank Chairman Boxer's staff, 
particularly Bettina Poirier, Jason Albritton, Ted Illston, Mary Kerr, 
and Kate Gilman.
  In closing, I strongly commend this WRRDA bill to the Senate. It is a 
strong bipartisan jobs and infrastructure bill. It is what we need to 
do more of, and it is the model we need to adopt more in the Senate: 
working together on important projects across party lines. One key 
reason we were able to do it successfully is we had a strong bipartisan 
process and an open process that invited participation from all sides, 
including significant floor amendments to the Senate bill. That was 
absolutely crucial to moving the bill in a productive way through the 
process.
  We will try to implement the same approach with the highway bill. We 
reported a strong bipartisan highway bill out of our committee 
unanimously last week, but we need to bring it to the Senate floor. We 
need to act well in advance of the highway trust fund running out of 
money around August. I hope we expand on this work. I hope we use this 
model, including an open-floor process, in many other areas on many 
other bills.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this WRRDA bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak in support 
of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, also known as the 
WRRDA bill.
  I thank Senator Vitter for his work on this bill. Of course, I also 
thank Chairman Boxer for her leadership in shepherding this bill 
through, when I think many people thought it would be a very difficult 
year to get a major infrastructure bill done. She was able to do it, 
work with Senator Vitter, work with the House most significantly, and 
we are very pleased with this bill.
  I support this legislation because it will keep invasive carp out of 
Minnesota's northern lakes. It will help towns across the country 
advance critical flood protection projects. It will address overdue 
port and harbor maintenance on the Great Lakes. It will also ensure 
that navigation will remain strong on the inland waterways system, 
including the powerful and important Mississippi River, which of course 
starts in my State in Itasca State Park, where one can literally walk 
over the mighty Mississippi.
  Minnesota's fishing and boating industries contribute around $4 
billion to our State's economy every single year. For Minnesotans, 
being on the water is more than just a way of life. It is also part of 
our State's culture, part of our heritage, and it is certainly part of 
our economic engine, but that way of life is under threat right now 
because of invasive species of carp, also called Asian carp. They were 
imported and accidentally released into the Mississippi River years 
ago. How I would love to reverse that moment when they were 
accidentally released in the Southern States into the Mississippi 
River, but it happened, and years later we are still stuck with the 
consequences.
  Anyone who has not seen the YouTube video, I would suggest you view 
it--of these Asian carp literally jumping out of the water, hitting 
fishermen in the head because they eat so much every single day, and of 
course they are eating the fish we have come to rely on in our State 
for great food and also great recreation.
  As these invasive carp have worked their way farther upstream, we 
have learned they are not deterred by cold winters, which was once 
thought to be the case. Today invasive species of carp are knocking on 
our doorstep. They have been found around Winona, MN, and they are 
already in the St. Croix River.
  Minnesotans know we cannot simply wish the problem away. The problem 
is literally swimming and jumping into our lives. That is why I 
authored the Upper Mississippi CARP Act, which would close the Upper 
St. Anthony Falls Lock in Minneapolis. My lock closure provision 
included in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act conference 
report will simply require the Army Corps of Engineers to close the 
Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock within 1 year following the date of 
enactment.

[[Page S3254]]

  The language is a product of years of working with State and local 
stakeholders, and today, with the passage of this provision, we will 
take a significant step forward in the fight against invasive species 
to make sure they do not move up into Minnesota's northern lakes.
  This provision has the support of Senator Franken and also 
Representatives Ellison, Paulsen, Walz, and Nolan in the House. It was 
bipartisan. It was supported by Governor Dayton and the City of 
Minneapolis, as well as a large number of environmental and wildlife 
organizations, including Minnesota Trout Unlimited, the National 
Wildlife Federation, the Mississippi River Fund, the Minnesota Izaak 
Walton League, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the 
Friends of the Mississippi River, just to name a few.
  It is also supported by countless anglers across Minnesota, and I 
appreciate the broad support we have had. It is not easy closing a 
lock, and we know there were some limited uses of the lock by certain 
businesses that during the winter do not use the lock but use barges, 
and we know the city will be working with them. We also know the 
kayaking community was using the lock, and I truly appreciate their 
support in closing down this lock. We had a tour boat that was using 
this lock, and they no longer use it.

  Then of course we had the Army Corps there. We worked with them. It 
was not easy at first, but I have appreciated their work. We know in an 
emergency the lock could be opened again. But this is not just a study; 
this closes down this lock in 1 year.
  I also want to thank my colleagues who worked with me on this 
provision who may have similar locks and dams and were concerned about 
what precedent this would set. We were able to make this a very focused 
provision, so we did not get resistance in the end, and they actually 
worked with me on compromise language, got it in the Senate, and I 
thank my colleagues in the House for using this exact provision in the 
House bill.
  Closing this lock is supported by many people. I remember meeting 
with a group of kayakers who, despite being impacted by the lock 
closure, told me: ``We're with you on this!''
  Recreational users of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock have taken 
voluntary steps, as I mentioned, to limit their use of the lock to 
reduce the chance of allowing invasive carp to spread upstream, but we 
knew we had to go further, and that is what we are doing today with the 
passage of this provision.
  Although making the decision to close the lock was not done lightly, 
it is right for our State. We know invasive species of carp can 
dominate the environment and make up an astounding 90 percent of the 
biomass in the river. They outcompete prized sport fish. They make 
waterskiing unsafe for families, and they make boating in our lakes and 
rivers smelly and even dangerous.
  In Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources and the 
Metropolitan Council studied the economic impact of closing the Upper 
St. Anthony Falls Lock and also the economic value of recreation 
activities upstream of this lock. They found that for every one job 
dependent on the lock staying open, over eight jobs rely on 
recreational boat trips upstream of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock.
  Closing the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock is a key part of a strategy 
to protect Minnesota's waters for future generations, but the fight 
against invasive carp does not end here. I will continue to fight for 
an ``all of the above'' solution to this challenge that includes 
closing this lock while also supporting research and carp barriers to 
protect other bodies of water in Minnesota.
  Solving this problem will require the continued cooperation of 
Federal, State, and local stakeholders all working together, and the 
passage of the lock closure provision is a leap forward, but of course 
it only helps with Minnesota's northern lakes. We are already seeing 
problems in the southern rivers, and we need to develop that research.
  There must be a way to eliminate these carp--by giving them food that 
will not kill other fish, by doing things with bubble barriers, and 
other ideas that have been brought forward. I know the State of 
Minnesota is working on that. I know the State of Wisconsin is working 
on that--and people all over the country. The Federal Government must 
play a role, and we must protect our Great Lakes, but we also must not 
forget our waterways.
  The WRRDA bill also advances critical flood protection projects, 
including the Fargo-Moorhead--or as I like to call it, being from 
Minnesota: the Moorhead-Fargo--diversion project which will protect 
Moorhead, MN, and Fargo, ND, from flooding caused by the Red River of 
the North.
  I have seen firsthand how hard people in the Red River Valley work to 
prepare for a potential flood. The Presiding Officer knows what this is 
like in New Jersey with his hurricanes, but I can tell you in Minnesota 
we literally have to plan for it every single year. They literally have 
warehouses for people putting sand in bags, anticipating this flooding. 
In a number of years we nearly lost these two major cities.
  This is not the way to do this, as much as we love our volunteers--
our seniors, our school kids, and everyone else--who have gathered 
together to get this project done and have stopped their lives for 
weeks. It would be much better to have permanent flood protection.
  I have worked with Senator Hoeven, of course, and Senator Heitkamp. 
They have both taken a lead, as well as Senator Franken, to get this 
done.
  The region avoided flooding this year. The river has been, however, 
in major flood stage 6 out of the last 8 years. In 2009--the year of 
the record flood--the river rose to more than 40 feet. In Minnesota and 
North Dakota, the Red River does not divide us. Working together, it 
actually brings us together and unites us, and it is that spirit of 
solidarity that drives our efforts in the Red River Basin.
  Floods damage homes, destroy crops, and hold entire cities hostage. 
The Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion project is critical to safety and 
economic development in the region, and finding a permanent solution to 
the issue makes much more economic sense than continuing to fight the 
flooding and repair damages year after year.
  The WRRDA bill also helps address flood protection for Roseau, MN. 
Roseau has recovered from a flood in 2002 that caused widespread 
damage, but the area needs flood protection to reduce the flood stages 
in the city. The next phase of the Roseau diversion project will reduce 
future flood damages by nearly 86 percent. I thank Collin Peterson, the 
Representative who represents Roseau, for his work on getting this 
funding. The families and businesses of Roseau have waited too long for 
flood protection, and the WRRDA bill ensures the project will be 
completed.
  But the WRRDA bill does not just protect property; it also 
strengthens our economy. The competitiveness of our economy is directly 
tied to the strength of our infrastructure. This includes upgrading and 
modernizing our ports, our harbors, and our waterways.
  The harbor maintenance trust fund collects $700 million more each 
year than it spends on dredging and maintenance. Meanwhile, our ports 
and navigation channels wait for basic maintenance.
  Coming from New Jersey, the Presiding Officer may think of New Jersey 
as having ports. Well, we have a major port--one of the biggest ports--
in Duluth, MN, that connects goods from the Midwest--not just from 
Minnesota, from all over the Midwest--to the Great Lakes through the 
St. Lawrence Seaway. It is a major port and brings goods in from the 
rest of the world.
  The backlog of sediment due to insufficient dredging is more than 18 
million cubic yards and is estimated to cost $200 million. The WRRDA 
bill helps correct this disparity and ensures that funds are spent to 
address the needs of shippers and that the Great Lakes system does not 
fall into further disrepair.
  When ships on the Great Lakes have to light load--which means they 
have about 10 percent less cargo than they should have--when they have 
to reduce their cargo because channels are not deep enough, our whole 
economy suffers, not just the shippers, not just the people who are 
producing the goods. Our whole economy suffers when we have to ship 10 
percent less than we could on these ships and instead we are bringing 
it in from other parts of the world. This does not make any sense at 
all.

[[Page S3255]]

  That is why I cosponsored an amendment with Senator Levin that 
establishes the Great Lakes ports as a single navigation system and 
sets aside additional funding for the Great Lakes ports.
  This provision will help ensure maintenance and dredging is done 
throughout the Great Lakes system. We are so excited about this. It is 
finally warming up in Duluth. In northern Minnesota, it is no longer 
colder than Mars. Our ships are ready to go and transport goods. We 
want them to be at their full capacity. The only way we can achieve 
this is by dredging some of these areas where we have seen some major 
problems.
  The bill also makes critical reforms to our Nation's rivers and 
waterways. The inland waterways system in this country spans 38 States 
and handles approximately one-half of all inland freight. With many 
maintenance and construction projects years overdue, the inland 
waterways are in dire need of major rehabilitation.
  The inland waterways trust fund, which funds these projects, is in 
steady decline. If we do not strengthen it, the industries that so 
heavily depend on the inland waterways system and the people that work 
for these industries--critical jobs--will suffer. That is why I 
cosponsored the RIVER Act with Senators Casey and Landrieu to help move 
forward major construction projects on the inland waterways system, 
including much-needed rehabilitation of the locks and dams on the 
Mississippi River.
  A number of the provisions of the RIVER Act are included in the final 
WRRDA bill, including reforms to the project management process that 
will help ensure waterways projects are completed on time and cost 
overruns are minimized.
  I also supported Senator Casey's amendment to increase the inland 
waterways user fee. Let me emphasize that the user who pays this fee 
asked for it. They agreed to pay this fee. We have a case of a win-win 
situation where the businesses that use these locks and dams want to 
actually pay more money to upgrade them because they need to carry 
their goods to market.
  I think the Presiding Officer knows the only way we are going to 
advance here in this economy on an international basis is if we are 
making stuff, inventing things, and sending them overseas instead of 
everyone sending their goods to America. We are not going to do that 
without a modern transportation system. Here we have businesses that 
are employing tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of 
people, that are willing to pay extra money to upgrade our locks and 
dams. That is all this is about.
  Industry partners, from farmers to shippers to companies such as 
Cargill in my State, strongly support this user fee increase. The 
increase was their idea. They know this modest change will go a long 
way to ensuring that our Nation's rivers are viable for years to come. 
The fee increase did not make it into the WRRDA bill because it is a 
tax provision. There are some good things in this bill for locks and 
dams. I do appreciate how the industry worked so well with me on 
allowing this provision of the closure of the one lock in Minnesota to 
stop the invasive species from going up into our northern lakes.
  But I also am continuing to work with them to upgrade our locks and 
dams throughout the country. One aspect that would truly help is this 
fee that businesses are willing to pay. It is exactly what we want--
private money going to upgrade our infrastructure. So we need to get 
this done. I will work with them in the future to get it on any bill we 
can so we can upgrade this country's locks and dams.
  Again, I commend Chairman Boxer and Ranking Member Vitter and all of 
the WRRDA conferees for putting together this bipartisan legislation. 
From keeping invasive carp out of our waters, to fighting to protect 
towns from flooding, investing in critical waterway infrastructure, to 
making sure our harbors are at 100 percent, this legislation is vital 
to the economy, our environment, our cities and towns. I will be proud 
to vote for it today.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________