[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 26 (Monday, February 11, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SAFEGUARDING DISASTER-RECOVERY FUNDS FOR ARMY CORPS CIVIL WORKS

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                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 11, 2019

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce legislation to 
prevent the President from diverting disaster-recovery funds from the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' civil works projects.
  I want to thank my colleagues--Representatives Cisneros, Velazquez, 
Bera, Gomez, Takano, Lowenthal, Rouda, Carbajal, Huffman, Eshoo, 
Vargas, Roybal-Allard, Soto, Lofgren, Matsui, Serrano, Napolitano, 
Plaskett, and Harder--for their support as original cosponsors.
  Last month, I received alarming reports that the President had 
reviewed a list of Army Corps civil works projects in California and 
Puerto Rico, totaling nearly $5 billion, from which to divert disaster-
recovery funding for border wall construction.
  Madam Speaker, it is morally reprehensible that any President would 
take recovery funds from disaster victims as ransom for a campaign 
promise. Targeting funds for Californians to make a craven political 
point and residents of Puerto Rico, who are denied voting rights in 
national elections and full representation in Congress, is equally low.
  One of the Army Corps levee projects the Trump Administration may 
defund protects 12,000 residents of Marysville, California from 
hypothermia-inducing floodwaters that could inundate the town in a 
matter of hours. This is a matter of saving lives in my Congressional 
district and helping California communities rebuild.
  My bill would eliminate a provision from the Water Resources 
Development Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-662), authorizing Presidents to 
divert funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' civil works 
directorate in exigent cases for national defense and emergencies. This 
obscure 1986 provision is the legal authority President Trump could 
invoke to divert disaster-recovery funding for his promised border 
wall.
  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, no 
President has ever invoked this 1986 legal authority, which was 
originally requested by the Reagan Administration for cases of 
Congressionally declared wars and presidentially declared national 
emergencies requiring civil defense during the Cold War.
  In acting on my bill, the House can reassert its Constitutional 
authority to direct federal funding for national priorities that help 
communities rebuild and become more resilient to future natural 
disasters. Madam Speaker, I urge all Members to join us in cosponsoring 
this important legislation. I also expect my bill will be included in 
the next Water Resources Development Act.

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