[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 188 (Wednesday, December 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7162-S7165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THOMAS R. CARPER WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2024
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask
the Chair to execute the order of December 12 with respect to the House
message to accompany S. 4367.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Chair lays
before the Senate the following message from the House:
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 4367) entitled
``An Act to provide for improvements to the rivers and
harbors of the United States, to provide for the conservation
and development of water and related resources, and for other
purposes.'', do pass with an amendment.
Motion to Concur
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to
S. 4367.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be up to
1 hour, equally divided.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman
from West Virginia.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the
House amendment to S. 4367.
What my compadre over on EPW did not mention is the name of the bill.
The name of the bill is the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources
Development Act of 2024. And I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of
this important legislation.
Just last week, the House approved this bill by an overwhelming
margin of 399 to 18. This bipartisan legislation is supported by a
diverse group of more than 200 stakeholders, which illustrates the
positive impact that the legislation will have on communities across
this country.
I just want to spend a few minutes kind of discussing the great work
of my colleagues in Congress and the benefits that the American people
will have by the provisions in this bill.
At the heart of the legislation is the Water Resources Development
Act of 2024. The enactment of biennial water resources legislation over
the last 10 years has been critical to addressing the Nation's water
resources needs.
In August, the Senate passed its version of this legislation by
unanimous consent. That bill was developed based on more than 1,000
requests submitted by our colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Following Senate passage, Chairman Carper and I worked with Chairman
Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen of the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee to resolve the differences between the
House and Senate-passed WRDA bill.
I am proud of the agreement that we were able to reach, and I want to
thank my House colleagues for being such great partners. I would like
to highlight some of the benefits of the WRDA 2024 bill.
It authorizes critical water resource studies and projects across the
country. These studies and projects will support navigation along our
waterways and at our ports. It will protect communities from flooding
and improve our environment.
This bill avoids one-size-fits-all solutions and maintains important
flexibilities so that the Corps of Engineers and non-Federal partners
can continue to address the unique water resources challenges across
our Nation.
It also contains directives to the Corps to develop comprehensive
implementation plans for this bill and for our prior WRDAs. This will
enable the Corps to focus its energy and resources on fully
implementing WRDA and prior WRDA provisions in order to better reflect
the intent of this body and this Congress and previous Congresses.
I also want to highlight some of the ways this bill will help
directly benefit my State of West Virginia. Just over 8 years ago, in
June 2016, West Virginia experienced flooding in historic rates, which
led to tragic deaths and devastation. This bill provides support for
future projects identified by the Corps' feasibility study for flood
risk management in the Kanawha River basin.
The legislation also increases the ability of the Corps to carry out
smaller projects for emergency streambank and shoreline protection,
ecosystem restoration, and debris and obstruction removal, which are
critical to many areas of my State.
The bill also directs the Corps to expedite feasibility studies for
the Upper Guyandotte and Kanawha River basins as well as to expedite
projects in Milton as well as the Bluestone Dam in Hinton.
This bill supports many drinking water and wastewater projects
throughout our State.
WRDA contains similar wins for States all across this Nation.
I am also glad to see, as part of this package, the Economic
Development Reauthorization Act of 2024. The Economic Development
Administration is tasked with facilitating economic development and
creating jobs in distressed communities across the country. While EDA
programs receive annual appropriations from Congress, the authorization
for these projects expired in 2008. The legislation reauthorizes EDA
programs at fiscally responsible levels for fiscal years 2025 through
2029.
This legislation reasserts congressional direction over EDA's funding
decision; it enhances our oversight at the Agency; it preserves locally
driven economic development decisions; and it ensures that funding from
EDA is accessible to distressed communities.
It also codifies and authorizes dedicated funding for EDA's
Assistance to Coal Communities Program, which was one of my top
priorities for this legislation. This program ensures that communities
in my home State of West Virginia which were decimated by the downturn
of the coal industry have the resources that we need to recover and
grow.
The bill also includes consideration of coal communities when EDA
assigns EDA representatives. The legislation
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also reauthorizes the regional Commissions that were expiring or have
expired, and it expands the types of activities that those Commissions
can carry out in their communities and modernizes their administrative
procedures.
The bill also includes a provision to increase transparency and
reduce waste across our Federal real estate portfolio.
And finally, the bill contains a provision that unlocks a significant
backlog of funding in the TIFIA Program and provides the funding States
need to use for transportation projects. It also includes provisions to
prevent the backlog from occurring in the future.
In closing, I would really like to take a minute to thank the staff
and my chairman, Chairman Carper. But I also want to thank the staff at
the various Federal Agencies that have helped with this legislation--
helped us formulate it--and also the House and Senate legislative
counsel. And I would like to thank as well the staff at the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well.
I want to extend my appreciation to the EPW Subcommittee on
Transportation and Infrastructure led by Chairman Mark Kelly and
Ranking Member Kevin Cramer for their and their staff's dedication to
this.
I also want to thank, again, my friend Chairman Carper. We have
worked together--this is our, I think, second WRDA bill that we did
together, and it is a fitting tribute to your decades of public service
to have this piece of legislation named after you.
From Chairman Carper's staff, I would like to thank Courtney Taylor,
John Kane, Linnea Saby, Nicole Comisky, Ryan Smith, Claire Shanklin,
Jordan Smallwood, and Tara Kroft. I would like to thank my staff seated
behind me, many of them: Adam Tomlinson, Murphie Barrett, Libby
Callaway, Dan Linkowski, Katherine Scarlett, Rebecca Hattar, Dom Rupp,
and Jack Cline.
I strongly encourage my colleagues to support the House amendment to
S. 4367, the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act.
Tribute to Mitch McConnell
Mr. President, with the permission of the chairman--I told him that I
wanted to mention one last thing before his remarks--I want to talk on
a separate topic. I would like to pay tribute to my friend, the senior
Senator from Kentucky, and our stalwart Republican leader, Mitch
McConnell.
Leader McConnell leaves the leadership table at the end of this
Congress as the longest serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
Resilience, patience, and determination--these are the qualities we
will remember the McConnell era by, an era that continues due to his
foresight in ensuring conservative principles rule the day in the
highest Court of the land.
If I had to distill the senior Senator from Kentucky's leadership
style down to twin pillars, I would say they were focus and more focus.
He says it is the most important word in the dictionary for a reason.
As a member of his broader leadership team from my early days in the
Senate and now as a member of the core leadership team as the Senate
Republican conference vice chairman, Leader McConnell has taught me
many valuable lessons and values in his leadership.
One of the first lessons was that Kentuckians and West Virginians
share more than a border; we also share a distinct sense of humor.
Leader McConnell leads with a sharp wit. His regular jokes at the
leadership table will be missed. For example, he used to call former
Senator Richard Shelby ``Too Big to Fail.''
Leader McConnell leads with humility. He will be the first to remind
you of his initial flop on the national stage when his idol, Ronald
Reagan, called him Mitch O'Donnell.
Leader McConnell leads with consistency. He has never missed a blue
shirt Thursday.
And he leads with a tough eye, for sure. He has taken countless
slings and arrows for his party and this institution, and all the
while, I think he thoroughly enjoyed it.
He reminds me of my dad in a way. They both have framed cartoons of
some of their biggest critics in their office.
He leads with moral and philosophical clarity. During more than a few
of his 18 years, I am sure he will agree being majority leader was
perhaps the hardest job in the country. He often referred to his job as
that of a gravekeeper: Everyone may be under him, but nobody is
listening.
I thank him for the unity he maintained and the clarity of his
leadership.
So after 18 years atop Senate Republican politics, he leaves an
indelible mark. I believe that the senior Senator calls that the long
game. And as we know, he is not leaving the Senate; he will just be
leading in different ways. He will return to the Henry Clay desk, a
fitting place for him to finish his life's work here in the Senate.
There, he will be continuing to face our national challenges with the
same steely, conservative resolve that we have so grown accustomed to.
Between the demanding roles of the Rules Committee and the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, I am confident he will stay busy, and he
has assured us that he will continue to thoroughly disappoint his
critics.
So thank you, Leader McConnell, for your leadership and your service
as the Nation's longest serving Senate party leader.
I thank the chairman of our committee, Chairman Carper, for letting
me give this tribute to our departing Republican leader.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
S. 4367
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, before we vote on WRDA this afternoon, I
want to express my strong support for this bill, S. 4367, which my
friend and colleague Shelley Moore Capito has graciously named in my
honor.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when we came to the end
of the markup a couple of months ago in our committee on this
legislation, and I asked if any of our members had another amendment
they wanted to offer. No one spoke up but you, and you said that you
would like to offer an amendment to name this bill in my honor.
It is undeserved but very much appreciated as I prepare to weigh
anchor, as we say in the Navy, and sail off into the sunrise with my
wife Martha.
The Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, also
known as WRDA--Water Resources Development Act--is the product of not
days, not weeks, but months of hard work and partnership with you,
Senator Capito, and your staff gathered here today as well as our House
colleagues Congressman Sam Graves and Congressman Rick Larsen.
This year, I am pleased to say that our legislation includes far
more--far more--than just the WRDA legislation itself. This package
also reauthorizes the Economic Development Administration for the first
time in--get this--20 years. It also reauthorizes our Federal regional
Commissions and includes important transportation and Federal building
provisions to increase transparency and to reduce Federal waste.
Before we vote today, I would like to take a minute or two to discuss
some of the important things this legislation will accomplish, if
enacted, for the American people.
First, this legislation continues the tradition of timely passage of
the Water Resources Development Act. As Senator Capito knows, we try to
do this legislation, pass this legislation, formulate this legislation,
every 2 years. We were right on the money, too, in terms of meeting
that schedule.
Some of our colleagues know I am a Navy guy, the last Vietnam veteran
serving in the U.S. Senate. Having said that, I have a deep respect for
the Army Corps of Engineers. I like to say: Navy and Army--different
uniforms but the same team.
In my State and, frankly, I think in all 50 States, the Army Corps of
Engineers does extraordinary work for the American people. For example,
the Corps manages our Nation's ports, our waterways, and our coastal
systems. The work of the Corps is essential for sustaining America's
commerce, while protecting our environment and our communities. The
Corps restores our ecosystems in critical areas such as the bayous in
Louisiana and the Everglades in Florida, which are home to not only a
number of endangered species but are indispensable parts of our
agricultural supply chain as well. The Corps also advances flood and
storm management solutions across our country to protect vulnerable
communities
[[Page S7164]]
like the bay beaches of Delaware. As the largest manager of our
Nation's water infrastructure, the Corps and the biennial WRDA bill
play a critical role in job creation, job retention, and in growth as
well.
Enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 is essential
for enabling the Army Corps of Engineers to meet the needs of
communities throughout America. WRDA 2024 strengthens the Corps'
ability to address diverse water resource needs throughout America. In
fact, it authorizes water infrastructure projects, studies, and
programs that will impact all 50 States. Let me say again. It will
impact not just our States, not just the States that are represented on
Environment and Public Works--all 50 States.
Every Senator in this body had the opportunity to participate with us
on the committee to help make sure the views and needs of their States
are reflected in this bill.
There are I think something like 200 feasibility studies and some 22
new or modified construction projects that are covered in this
legislation.
Additionally, WRDA 2024 directs the Corps to expedite implementation
of authorities provided by Congress in prior WRDAs. Increasingly
powerful hurricanes, rising sea levels, and record temperatures
underscore the need for the Corps to develop and execute a plan to
fully implement past reauthorizations as soon as possible in order to
better protect our communities. The water resource challenges facing
our communities are already growing in number, and this bill will help
us address it.
Additionally, WRDA 2024 also contains a full reauthorization of the
Economic Development Administration for the first time in 20 years. Let
me say that again--for the first time in 20 years.
Some will recall that the Economic Development Administration, or
EDA, is a Federal Agency that invests in the development of distressed
communities across America. Through its grant programs, the Economic
Development Administration helps local communities plan for economic
development activities, construct ``last-mile'' infrastructure, and
mitigate the effects of short- and long-term economic challenges and
disasters.
By reauthorizing this Agency, EDA, we have the opportunity to
modernize this legislation, WRDA. We also have the opportunity to
modernize the Economic Development Administration for today's
challenges, while improving its ability to foster economic growth and
build resilient supply chains.
WRDA 2024 also authorizes and updates the laws pertaining to certain
Federal and regional Commissions and will establish two new regional
Commissions--the mid-Atlantic regional Commission and the Southern New
England regional Commission. The mid-Atlantic regional Commission
includes Delaware under its purview.
Finally, WRDA 2024 includes important provisions to increase
transparency and accountability, while also reducing Federal waste at
the Department of Transportation and General Services Administration.
As we move today to consider the Water Resources Development Act of
2024, I am reminded of an old proverb that goes something like this: If
you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to travel far, go together.
That is what we have done. We have gone together. With this bill, I
am proud to say we have chosen consciously that approach.
That is how we should approach much of our work in Congress--by
reaching across the aisle to work together and find lasting solutions
where possible to the problems we face as a nation. After all,
bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions.
The bill before us today is a result of that partnership--not only
between Members but also between our staffs.
Before I conclude today, I want to say thank you to Senator Capito's
staff. She was nice enough to mention the names of some of the members
of our staff on the majority side. I also want to mention the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers congressional affairs staff and the staff of the
Senate legislative counsel. That includes Adam Tomlinson, Murphie
Barrett, Libby Callaway, Dan Linkowski, Dom Rupp, Katherine Scarlett,
Brett Jortland, Jack Cline, Dave Wethington, Amy Klein, Deanna Edwards,
and Mark Mazzone.
I also want to take a moment and acknowledge the members of my own
staff on the majority side and to thank them from the bottom of my
heart for all their work, including late nights and long hours. Among
them are Linnea Saby, Ryan Smith, Claire Shanklin, Jordan Baugh, Nicole
Comisky, Jordan Smallwood, Tara Kroft, Courtney Taylor, and their
leader John Kane.
In closing, let me urge all of our colleagues to join Senator Capito
and me in supporting what we believe is an excellent bill--certainly
not because my name is associated with it but because every State
stands to benefit from the provisions it contains.
I close and add one last quick note. Almost every day, I travel back
and forth on the train from Delaware to Washington. I talk to people
coming and going. One of the things I hear the most is: Why can't you
guys work together and get stuff done in Washington, the House and the
Senate?
This legislation is living proof that we can do that and we can do it
well. We have been doing it with this legislation for years and with a
lot of other legislation that has emanated and come out of the
Environment and Public Works Committee.
I want to commend Senator Capito for working with me and our
Democratic and Republican colleagues to help make that happen, again,
for the last 2 years.
In closing, let me urge all our colleagues to join Senator Capito and
me in supporting what we believe is an excellent bill--certainly not
because, again, of my name but because every State--every single
State--stands to benefit from the provisions this legislation contains.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. I ask unanimous consent to yield back all time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
concur.
Mr. MURPHY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow)
is necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the senator
from Ohio (Mr. Vance).
The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 1, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 327 Leg.]
YEAS--97
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Booker
Boozman
Braun
Britt
Brown
Budd
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Fetterman
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kaine
Kelly
Kennedy
Kim
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Lujan
Lummis
Manchin
Markey
Marshall
McConnell
Merkley
Moran
Mullin
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Peters
Reed
Ricketts
Risch
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schmitt
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--1
Lee
NOT VOTING--2
Stabenow
Vance
[[Page S7165]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hassan). On this vote, the yeas are 97,
the nays are 1.
The 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the motion to concur is
agreed to.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
____________________