[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 25198-25224]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2007--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to the consideration of the conference report to 
accompany H.R. 1495, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     1495), to provide for the conservation and development of 
     water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of 
     the Army to construct various projects for improvements to 
     rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other 
     purposes, having met, have agreed to recommend and do 
     recommend that the House recede from its disagreement to the 
     amendment of the Senate and agree to the same with an 
     amendment, signed by all conferees on the part of both 
     Houses.

  (The conference report is printed in the proceedings of the House in 
the Record of July 31, 2007.)
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is 
recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am very pleased to bring to the floor 
today the conference report on H.R. 1495, the Water Resources 
Development Act of 2007. I think I can pick up on something Senator 
Alexander said about how divided we are in this country over this Iraq 
war. That is very clear. No one understands more than our Senator who 
is sitting in the chair and presiding today how we are divided. This is 
a different story, so we will take a little break out of our 
discussions about Iraq, and we will continue to work for bipartisanship 
in bringing this war to an honorable close.
  At this time, we take a little break from that and turn toward 
something that is very important, which is building and rebuilding the 
water infrastructure of our Nation. Today is a day that is 7 years in 
the making.
  I wish to start off by thanking my committee, all of the Members on 
my side of the aisle, and Senator Inhofe, our ranking member, and all 
his colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle. This is an unusual 
day. This is a day where we come forward united on a bill that will 
authorize the projects and policies of the Civil Works Program of the 
Army Corps of Engineers. I am so pleased we will vote today on final 
passage of that bill, and we will send it to the President.
  I hope President Bush will reconsider his veto threat of this bill. I 
think colleagues will speak to how urgent this bill is. Imagine not 
having a water resources bill for 7 long years. That is too long to 
wait. If colleagues are concerned about the size of the bill--truly, if 
we had gone back the way we did it, every 2 years, it would be about 
the size that this bill is. As Senator Inhofe will say when he gets 
here--and, as you know, he and I don't agree on many environmental 
matters, but on public works matters we do agree--this is the first 
step in a long process--the authorizing step--and then comes the 
appropriations.
  So every one of these projects that has gone through local 
governments all over this country--remember, for every one of these 
projects, there is a local match. These are projects that came from the 
bottom up, from our people who were saying to us we need help with 
flood control, with economic development, with dredging and we need 
help with wetlands restoration and in a number of areas involving the 
movement of water; and this country learned it when we watched after 
Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
  If we didn't know it then, we certainly know it now. So I say to this 
President, this bill is in line, in terms of the pricetag, with what we 
would have had if we had done this bill every 2 years. There is huge 
support for this bill. The votes in the House and the Senate are 
enormous, very one-sided.
  So I hope, Mr. President, if you are listening or people in your 
office are listening, this is a respectful request to please join with 
us. We don't have to fight over every single thing. When it comes to 
the economy, the quality of life of our people, we should be united.
  The House vote on this conference report was 381 to 40. We are hoping 
we will vote in that same fashion in the Senate.
  Mr. President, how much time do I have, since I am Senator Reid's 
designee?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Each of the managers has 67\1/2\ 
minutes. The Senator has used 3\1/2\ minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, will Senator Landrieu be amenable to 
taking 10 minutes at this time, and I will reserve time later for her 
in the debate?
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes.
  Mrs. BOXER. I yield 10 minutes of my time to Senator Landrieu. I wish 
to say before she begins, she has been a mover behind this bill. She 
has worked her heart out to get this bill to the floor and, as a result 
of her working, of course, along with her colleague, Senator Vitter, 
who is on the committee, our committee came to Louisiana and held a 
very unique hearing. We had many colleagues--I see Senator Cardin is on 
the floor. He was there. We had a very good turnout, and Senator 
Landrieu was eloquent. She has been eloquent on the floor of the Senate 
in the past I look forward to hearing her remarks.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Louisiana is 
recognized.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California and 
all of my colleagues on this particular committee who have worked so 
hard. The ranking member, Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma, has also worked 
hard. But I have to say to this chairwoman who took the chairmanship of 
this committee and said 7 years is enough time to wait, it is too long 
for the people of Louisiana, for California, or Florida, or Maryland--
my good colleague from Maryland, Senator Cardin, who serves on this 
committee has been so forceful--she said: I am coming to Louisiana. I 
want to see it for myself, particularly after Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita devastated our coast.
  As the chairwoman knows, we lost 267 square miles of land in south 
Louisiana because of the storm and the devastation of the tides, the 
surges, and the flooding. That is more than the whole District of 
Columbia, more than two and a half times the size of the 100 square 
miles that represent the District of Columbia. This is a huge expanse 
of land that was lost.
  This Senator said enough. We have been waiting too long. It has been 
7 long years. Today with this conference report vote that is going to 
take place in about 2 hours, that wait will come to an end. The last 
step Congress can take to send this bill off will have been taken. The 
conference report, hopefully, will be approved by a vast majority of 
Senators on both sides of the aisle. It would not have happened without 
Senator Boxer's leadership. I am, indeed, so grateful on behalf of the 
people I represent in Louisiana.
  This is a small map, but it shows my colleagues the vastness of the 
land we

[[Page 25199]]

are trying to protect and preserve, this great wetlands, which is the 
green area shown on this chart. The Mississippi River comes down, of 
course, through the mouth of the Mississippi River. This is the Sabine 
River that divides Louisiana from Texas and the Pearl River that serves 
as a boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana.
  From east Texas, all of Louisiana, and for west Mississippi, this is 
an extremely important bill for our coastal regions. It is going to 
provide historic and first-time funding for a comprehensive wetlands 
restoration, a combination of levees, wetlands restoration, and 
freshwater diversion projects that are going to not only protect the 
3.5 million people who live south of the I-10--when people say to me, 
Senator, why do you live there? I don't know exactly how to answer that 
question other than to say we have been there for 300 years.
  I don't know exactly why the first person--and that was before the 
Native Americans. That was after the Native Americans settled the land. 
I am speaking about when Bienville put up a stake along the Mississippi 
River. I would say there are any number of reasons, one of which is it 
was absolutely imperative to settle on the mouth of the river for 
westward expansion for the Nation. We couldn't have had a nation 
without the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Purchase, of which 19 
States now are made up from the Louisiana Purchase.
  We remember our history. I cannot go into all the reasons, but they 
most certainly are there with 300 years of history. There are 3 million 
people who live here. We cannot relocate them. It would be cost 
prohibitive. We can only protect them. We have put in smart planning 
and smart zoning. That is what we are doing and have been doing. The 
parishes put up money, and the State, and the Federal Government, and 
that is what we are doing.
  I only have a few minutes remaining. I will speak later.
  There is another way to look at the levee system that is crucial to 
protect the people who live in south Louisiana. Unlike many States, we 
do not have beaches. I have been to the beautiful beaches in 
California, and I want them preserved. I have been to some of the most 
beautiful beaches in Virginia and North Carolina and throughout the 
country. We are the only State that does not have beaches. We only have 
two: Holly Beach which is 7 miles long--it was virtually destroyed in 
the storm--and Grand Isle, which is 7 miles long. This coastline is 
thousands of miles long with only 2 little beaches. But we do have 
wetlands. We do not have people living on these wetlands. Sometimes 
there is a little camp here or a little community there. But they are 
stuck on the high ridges. They have been living on ridges that can be 
protected, and with the right kind of levees and the right kind of 
comprehensive system such as is in the Netherlands and other places in 
the world, this can be done. It takes commitment, it takes dedication, 
and it needs a steady stream of funding.
  Mr. President, how many minutes do I have remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 4\1/2\ minutes 
remaining.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, this is a fairly dramatic chart I want 
to show people. It is a little scary for me and, I am sure, the people 
I represent. It is also very scary for Florida, Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Georgia. This is the track of all hurricanes from 1955 to 
2005. This is what the southeastern part of this country has to brace 
itself for every year--year after year after year.
  According to all reports, these storms are getting stronger and 
stronger and more numerous. We have been very blessed that we have not 
had a critical storm this summer. But the season is still open until 
November.
  This yellow track is the track of Katrina. This blue track is the 
track of Rita which actually hit 2 years ago today. I was down in 
Cameron Parish on the corner of Louisiana, and east Texas is still 
hurting very badly, as well as our areas, from this storm. It has not 
recovered yet.
  My point is, this bill not only has projects for inland waterways and 
navigation, but it provides vital projects for all of the southeastern 
United States and for the eastern seaboard to protect the people, the 
great industries, and manufacturing that are represented through all 
sorts of navigable waterways and ports that service this whole Nation.
  Without this bill, this whole area will become significantly more 
vulnerable and open to storms, erosion, and surges. This is a very 
dramatic chart that shows what we are up against.
  I am going to come back later and show some other charts, but in 
conclusion, this is a historic bill for Louisiana. It is extremely 
important for the Nation. For the first time we have authorized 
Morganza to the gulf which protects Houma, LA, a city not a lot of 
people hear about, but it is a very important city. It is smaller than 
Baton Rouge, smaller than New Orleans, smaller than Lafayette, but it 
is crucial to the energy infrastructure of this Nation.
  We have many small towns in south Louisiana that my colleagues will 
not hear a lot about, but we store oil and gas there. We run pipelines 
through these towns. People are down there working their hearts out to 
give us the energy security we need. The least we can do is protect 
their schools, their communities, their way of life, and their culture.
  I thank Senator Boxer for allowing me to speak. I thank my colleague 
Senator Vitter, who is a member of this committee. He will be speaking 
in a moment. He has been extremely helpful, energetic, and forceful in 
his advocacy for many of these projects. We have worked together. I am 
very pleased that he has put so much time and effort into this bill.
  I see my colleague from Florida, who also has made a historic 
breakthrough on some projects, particularly the Everglades.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
  The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I also rise and join so many colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle in strong support of this Water Resources 
Development Act conference report. Perhaps it is appropriate that we 
will pass this historic legislation through the Senate today, September 
24, the 2-year anniversary of Hurricane Rita which devastated large 
parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.
  Of course, less than a month ago, August 29, was the 2-year 
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, also appropriate that we are finally 
moving on this crucial legislation so near to that anniversary.
  In fact, I would go so far as to say that as we still battle to 
recover from those two devastating storms, as we still climb out of 
that enormous setback in Louisiana, as we still face important work to 
do related to that recovery in Congress, this conference report, this 
WRDA bill, is the single most important thing we can pass to help the 
gulf coast with that recovery, particularly medium and long term. That 
is how vital it is to improve hurricane flood protection. That is how 
essential it is to our very lifeblood survival recovery from the 
devastating impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
  Of course, as virtually everyone, I am very frustrated about how long 
it took us to get to this moment--7 years--when a WRDA bill is expected 
to be passed every 2 years. But at least, I will also say, we have done 
something with that delay in improving the bill, particularly to take 
account of the needs and the lessons learned coming out of those 
devastating storms.
  I first came to the Senate after the election of 2004, January 2005. 
The first committee I was assigned to was the Environment and Public 
Works Committee, through which this WRDA bill, of course, passes. That 
committee works on this bill. Even when I first came to the Senate 3 
years ago, this bill was about 2 years overdue. So it has been a long 
time coming. But we have worked on it, we have improved it, it has gone 
through the committee process, and it has gone through the conference 
process.

[[Page 25200]]

  I also served on the conference committee. We finally have a very 
good, robust product and, again, we have at least taken advantage of 
that time lapse to learn the lessons of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and 
to include key positions that Louisiana and the gulf coast need for 
their recovery and, indeed, survival.
  What crucial provisions are included in this bill? A 100-year level 
of hurricane protection. President Bush, in his famous Jackson Square 
speech in mid-September 2005, made a clear, firm, and historic 
commitment to that very high level of hurricane protection.
  This bill embodies that commitment and passes it into law. It takes 
several steps forward toward that 100-year level of protection.
  Recently the Corps determined that level of protection doesn't exist 
in the greater New Orleans area. We are between 2 and 16 feet 
vertically deficient in terms of our levees throughout the greater New 
Orleans area. This bill fully authorizes addressing that shortfall.
  The second key component of the bill, moving on into the future, is a 
greater level of hurricane protection even beyond the 100-year level, 
what we in south Louisiana call category 5 protection. In prior 
legislation, some of the supplemental appropriation bills we passed on 
an emergency basis after the hurricanes, we told the Corps to get to 
work studying and designing that higher level of protection. This bill 
further refines that mandate and directs the Corps in no uncertain 
terms to offer specific project recommendations toward that 
fundamentally higher, sounder level of protection.
  A third crucial component is coastal restoration. As my colleague 
from Louisiana has referred to, Louisiana has lost enormous amounts of 
land, having it vanish into the gulf due to coastal land loss. We have 
lost more land than exists in the entire State of Delaware. Right now, 
as we speak, we lose a football field of land every 38 minutes, and 
that is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. It goes on and 
on and on. This bill begins to address in a very serious way that 
national emergency. This bill authorizes an ambitious coastal 
restoration plan.
  Again, the bill is long overdue, but we have made use of that delay. 
When I first came to the Senate, the WRDA bill then under consideration 
only devoted about $400 million to this national crisis of coastal land 
loss. It only authorized one specific project. We knew we had to do 
more. We saw we had to do more because of the experiences of Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita, and so now we authorize around $4 billion of this 
crucial work, with 17 specific coastal restoration projects fully 
authorized.
  Corps reform, another crucial provision, is embodied in the bill, 
although I think we do Corps reform right, particularly with regard to 
Louisiana projects. One of the most bitter lessons of Hurricane Katrina 
in particular was that the Corps had made serious engineering and other 
mistakes in the past which led to the levee breaches and devastating 
flooding throughout the New Orleans area. We had to reform the process 
to make sure that never happened again. We had to bring in outside 
engineering and other expertise to integrate with the expertise within 
the Corps to make sure those sorts of mistakes were never made again.
  I drafted, with the help of others, Corps reform provisions that are 
in this bill, some of them specific to Louisiana projects. For the 
first time ever, we fully integrate hurricane, coastal, flood 
protection, and navigation programs within Louisiana and we mandate a 
specific integration team that will help that become reality so that 
one type of project isn't done in isolation.
  We establish the Louisiana Water Resources Council to improve the 
efficiency and performance of projects. That is a very important part 
of Corps reform. We expedite the process so that, hopefully, no longer 
will it take an average of 13 years--13 years--for an average Corps 
project to even get to the stage where the first shovel hits the 
ground.
  This bill contains so many other crucial provisions--closing of the 
MRGO, major improvements to the Bonnet Carre diversion alternative, 
major hurricane protection improvements to the lower Jefferson Parish 
and Lafourche Parish, and crucial work in the southwest part of the 
State, where Hurricane Rita caused devastating damage, including deeper 
access to the Port of Iberia, coupled with greater flood and hurricane 
protection for Vermilion Parish, and improved dredging and navigation 
on the Calcasieu River, and on and on and on. This bill is a lifeline 
for our continued survival in Louisiana.
  As we move forward, I thank all of the folks who worked so hard to 
produce this bill, certainly including the leadership of my EPW 
Committee, the chair, Chairman Boxer, the ranking member, Senator 
Inhofe, and the chair and ranking member of the subcommittee of 
jurisdiction, Senators Isakson and Baucus, and all of their very 
devoted staff. As we move on, I urge all of us to join together to pass 
the bill, and then to either avoid Presidential veto or, if necessary, 
hopefully work immediately in a bipartisan fashion to override that 
veto and ensure that this crucial legislation, crucial for the very 
survival of Louisiana, becomes law.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I have a little UC to take care of the 
people on the floor right now.
  I ask unanimous consent that Senator Collins be allowed to speak for 
up to 5 minutes; Senator Nelson for up to 10 minutes, and Senator 
Baucus for up to 10 minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator wish for the 
Members to speak in that order?
  Mrs. BOXER. Yes. And, for now, this will be it, but I will do a 
second UC to include Senator Landrieu for another 10 at a later time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I thank the chair of the committee for 
yielding me this time, and I rise today in support of the conference 
report for the Water Resources Development Act. This legislation 
authorizes important studies and projects to protect and maintain water 
resources throughout our country.
  I am especially pleased that the conference report includes $26.9 
million for Camp Ellis, ME. More than 100 years ago, the Army Corps 
built a jetty extending out from the Saco River, adjacent to Camp Ellis 
Beach. This jetty altered the pattern of currents and sand and it is 
the primary cause of the devastating erosion at Camp Ellis. The extent 
of the erosion is truly shocking. Some 36 houses have been washed into 
the sea in the last 100 years. The 1998 shoreline is 400 feet from 
where the shoreline stood in 1908. The houses that are now in danger 
were once six or more houses back from the sea.
  In April of this year, a devastating Patriot's Day storm hit Maine 
with heavy winds and a great deal of rain. This terrible storm, the 
worst natural disaster to strike Maine since the ice storm of 1998, 
caused massive storm surges, astronomically high tides, and inland and 
coastal flooding.
  Let me show my colleagues some of the evidence of the devastation 
that was caused by this April storm. As you can see, this is the road 
that follows along the waterfront. It was utterly devastated. In 
another picture I will show my colleagues, this is what happened to 
some of the houses that were along the waterfront. As you can see, they 
were completely destroyed as the water took out the foundations and 
caused terrible destruction. That is a power pole that has been thrown 
down by the storm. In yet another example, a house has been absolutely 
ruined as a result of this storm.
  Now, when the jetty was first constructed 100 years ago, we didn't 
have the knowledge we do now, and no one predicted the terrible impact. 
The incredible force of the ocean during the storm earlier this year 
literally washed out the foundations of the homes. The street that once 
ran along the ocean front was largely destroyed, leaving nothing 
between the remaining homes

[[Page 25201]]

and the open ocean. Many homeowners in the area were still dealing with 
flooded basements for weeks following the storm. This was a vivid 
reminder of the terrible impact a powerful storm can have on those who 
live in this vulnerable community.
  The sea has advanced such that another large storm could wash out the 
peninsula altogether and turn Camp Ellis into an island. That, 
obviously, would be devastating to the people who live there.
  We know what must be done to prevent such a calamity. Studies 
undertaken at the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers indicate 
that an offshore breakwater and a spur coming off the jetty are likely 
to be needed to protect Camp Ellis from further erosion and the 
destruction of even more property. The Camp Ellis jetty was built by 
the Federal Government at a time when the erosional impacts of 
shoreline structures were largely unknown. The jetty has served its 
important navigational purpose well over the 100-plus years of its 
existence, but now it is time for the Federal Government to make good 
on its obligation to help those people who have been harmed by the 
structure the Federal Government built in the first place.
  With the passage of the Water Resources Development Act, we will 
finally have authorized the funds necessary to act upon the best 
available science and to fully and finally protect the residents of 
Camp Ellis. I urge my colleagues to support the conference report, and 
again I thank the committee for being responsive to the concerns of the 
people of Maine.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, a commitment takes a lot more 
than lip service and nice words to restore ecosystems, and particularly 
ecosystems that have been manipulated by mankind and distorted as has 
happened with the Florida Everglades. When I talk about commitment, I 
want to talk about Senator Boxer. This lady, in only a few months, 
after waiting for 7 years, with all other leadership flailing about and 
not making it happen--this lady, our chair of the Environment 
Committee, has made it happen and it is going to be passed. We are 
going to do it today, and we all hope the President will not veto it. 
But with the separation of powers under our constitution, we have a way 
of enacting law over a President's veto, and that is better than a two-
thirds vote in both Houses of Congress to enact it into law despite the 
veto of the President. We hope we don't have to do that, but if we do, 
we will. Then we can set things right and we can get about the 
restoration.
  I want to tell the Senate about this incredible area known as the 
Everglades. This is a compendium of satellite imagery over a 4-year 
period. This is at the southern tip of Florida. This is Lake 
Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Homestead, and the 
beginning of the Florida Keys. This is a road which was constructed in 
the 1920s, to get from Miami to Naples, called the Tamiami Trail. This 
is a road which was constructed to get from Fort Lauderdale to Naples--
Interstate 75--called Alligator Alley. This, of course, was constructed 
much more recently--sometime about 25 years ago--and was constructed 
with box culverts so that there would be proper water flows.
  But you can imagine, back in the 1920s they didn't think about that. 
When they built the Tamiami Trail, it in effect created a dike that, as 
the water flowed south out of Okeechobee, in the historical Mother 
Nature patterns, and would flow in this sheet flow to the south into 
Florida Bay and into the gulf of Mexico, it was suddenly stopped by 
this dike, which was the roadbed.
  So part of this bill called Modified Waters is to correct that, 
having additional flows come underneath and then eventually to 
construct a long bridge or bridges here, which will enhance the flow of 
the water. Why enhance the flow of the water? That is what Mother 
Nature intended. The water actually starts way north, just south of 
Orlando. It flows in a meandering stream called the Kissimmee River 
into Lake Okeechobee and historically spilled over out of Lake 
Okeechobee and flowed in a massive sheet flow in this direction, 
southernly and southwesterly, until the hurricanes of the 1920s, in 
which over 2,000 people were killed, drowned, and the whole idea was to 
come in and start diking and draining for flood control. But in so 
doing, they messed up what Mother Nature intended.
  About the year 2000, when the comprehensive Everglades restoration 
project was passed, it was to now accommodate for several different 
things. First of all, the water had been diverted, so that had to be 
changed. But the fact is that now 6 million people are living here. 
That wasn't the case in early Florida. And a vast agricultural industry 
had developed on the south end of the lake. To give the water needs to 
the Everglades and the Everglades National Park and to the 6 million 
people and to the agricultural interests--that, put together, is the 
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Ever since that was enacted, 
we have not had an authorization bill to authorize the projects to 
implement this plan. So I again give kudos to Senator Boxer for 
bringing this up and making it happen fast.
  What we have, then, is a major project in this bill called the Indian 
River Lagoon. This is the Indian River up here. I happened to grow up, 
as a child, on this river. At times, that and the St. Lucie River 
flowing into the Indian River Lagoon is like a dead river because of 
the excessive nutrients from lower Lake Okeechobee flowing to 
Tidewater. The same to the west, down the Caloosahatchee River, down to 
Fort Myers--excessive nutrients create a dead river.
  I couldn't believe it. A couple of years ago, I went out on that 
river right there, the St. Lucie River. First of all, there was a 
bright-green algae bloom. You know what that means. That means algae is 
sucking up the oxygen from the river, and therefore all the living 
things that depend on that river are not going to be there. I didn't 
see the mullet jumping. I didn't see the porpoises rolling. I didn't 
see Mr. Osprey diving into the water to get his dinner. I didn't see 
Mr. Eagle sitting over in the dead pine tree waiting for Mr. Osprey to 
catch his dinner for him. It was a dead river. That is one of the 
reasons for one of these major projects called the Indian River Lagoon, 
and that is authorized. Then we have to appropriate the money and get 
it done.
  There is another area here called the Picayune Spring. It is a highly 
endangered area because of the encroachment of development and the 
necessary waterflows. It, also, is addressed as well as what I talked 
about, this dike, which is the roadbed, called the Tamiami Trail.
  What we have is a comprehensive plan for what Marjorie Stoneman 
Douglas, when she wrote of her great love of these Florida Everglades, 
termed the ``River of Grass.''
  I will conclude with this. Senator Boxer and her husband were kind 
enough to go down to the Everglades with me a few weeks ago. It was 
this incredible sight. As we glided over this river of grass in an 
airboat and as the Sun began to set and as the shadows lengthened, as 
we came out of the river of grass into the Big Cypress Preserve with 
these stands of cypress trees, with that little light available right 
at dusk, it looked as if we were in this beautiful meadow of grass with 
the tree stands. Suddenly, reality struck when we saw a mother doe and 
her two fawns--instead of bounding over the hills of the grass, they 
were jumping over the grass out of the water and back into the water, 
in this incredible place, the location of fauna and flora.
  The Everglades does not just affect Florida. It doesn't just affect 
the Western Hemisphere. Major environmental sites that are ecologically 
threatened affect the climate of planet Earth, our home.
  I am so grateful that we have this bill up and that we are going to 
pass it with huge numbers today.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.

[[Page 25202]]


  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the 
Water Resources Development Act of 2007.
  First, I deeply congratulate the chair of the committee, Senator 
Boxer. She worked very hard and on a strong bipartisan basis to get 
this legislation where it is, working with Senator Inhofe. I thank him 
equally.
  I also wish to thank Senator Isakson, the ranking member of the 
subcommittee, concerning this legislation.
  And hats off to Senator Jim Jeffords. Senator Jeffords and his 
staffer, Catharine Ransom, deserve special thanks because for years 
they have been working on this legislation. I wanted first to thank him 
for his efforts as well. I know if he were here with us today, he would 
be very happy getting this legislation passed.
  We westerners have been plagued recently with several years of 
drought. Ranchers and farmers across my State of Montana have watched 
their livelihood dry up before their eyes. The West's battle with 
drought highlights the pressing needs to ensure our water resources are 
used efficiently because it does not rain in the West. It may rain in 
Washington, DC, and other parts of the country, but it doesn't rain in 
the West.
  This conference report provides authority for the Army Corps of 
Engineers to move forward with long overdue water resources projects. 
Levees are crumbling, people are living in harm's way waiting for this 
legislation. The tragedy in Minnesota highlights that need. This 
conference report authorizes projects that will provide needed flood 
and storm damage protection, navigation improvements, and environmental 
restoration. Clearly, there is authority here well needed, long 
overdue, for rebuilding and restoring the coast of Louisiana, 
devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
  Several projects are very important to my State of Montana: the 
Yellowstone River and tributaries recovery project; the Lower 
Yellowstone Project at Intake, MT; the Missouri River and tributaries 
recovery project; the upper basin of the Missouri River project; and a 
riverfront revitalization project in Missoula.
  There is also a very important authorization for the rehabilitation 
and improvement of a very important aging water project we called the 
Hi-Line Region of Montana, called the St. Mary diversion. This system 
is rusting, it is cracking, and it is crumbling. If you go out and see 
it, you are stunned how much this is deteriorating. But 17,000 
Montanans on the Hi-Line depend on this 90-year-old system for their 
drinking water. Without St. Mary, lower Milk River would go dry 6 out 
of every 10 years, imperiling the water source to thousands of Montana 
families.
  These projects and their importance to the communities and the 
projects they serve underlie the need for this conference report. We 
passed it last year. Let's get it enacted again this year.
  The Senator from Wisconsin is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, before my friend begins, I wanted to get 
the parliamentary situation, if he will yield for a minute?
  Mr. FEINGOLD. I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is 
recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. It is my understanding that Senator Feingold has up to 30 
minutes to speak on the bill. He and I discussed it. If he has any 
added time, he has graciously agreed to yield it to me with the 
understanding that if he wants additional time, I will get it back to 
him later. But I think, if it is necessary for me to make such a 
request, I ask unanimous consent that whatever time the Senator yields 
back be yielded back to me with the understanding he will be able to 
speak again if he so chooses.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, how much time do I have?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wisconsin has 30 
minutes.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. If I do not use all the time, I will certainly be happy 
to yield to the Senator from California.
  Mr. President, I will oppose the conference report on the Water 
Resources Development Act. For 7 years, I have worked with Senator 
McCain and many of our colleagues on essential reforms of the Corps of 
Engineers and have long anticipated the day the Congress enacts 
meaningful reform.
  Unfortunately, today is not that day, and this is not the reform bill 
the country needs.
  After a decade of Government and independent reports calling for 
reforming the Corps and pointing out stunning flaws in Corps projects 
and project studies, and after the tragic failures of New Orleans' 
levees during Hurricane Katrina, the American people deserve meaningful 
reforms to ensure the projects the Corps builds are safe, appropriate, 
environmentally responsible, and fiscally sound. The urgency and 
necessity could not be clearer.
  Unfortunately, the conference report includes weak reforms. The 
Senate twice voted in support of strong reform language, when it passed 
WRDA bills earlier this year and last Congress. But the conference 
report we are about to vote on has been stripped of many important 
safeguards that would ensure accountability and prevent the Corps from 
manipulating the process. We have compromised enough over the years. We 
can no longer afford a system that favors wasteful projects over the 
needs of the American people.
  The bill brought back from conference is particularly disappointing 
because a few months ago, on May 15, Senators Reid, Boxer, and I 
entered into a colloquy in which we agreed the Senate Environment and 
Public Works Committee would ensure the strong Senate reforms would be 
the minimum reforms coming out of conference and enacted into law. That 
agreement, apparently, has counted for little.
  I am particularly troubled by the changes made to the bill's 
independent review provision during negotiations between the House and 
the Senate. The Senate version of the bill included a strong 
independent review provision, which I successfully offered as an 
amendment to last year's bill and which was again included in this 
year's WRDA.
  Subjecting Corps of Engineers project studies to a review by an 
independent panel of experts will help ensure future Corps projects do 
not waste taxpayer money or endanger public safety and that 
environmental impacts are avoided or minimized.
  Unfortunately, the independent review provision included in the 
conference report was significantly weakened in several respects. 
First, it does not ensure independence of the review process. Under the 
conference report, the supposedly ``independent'' review is not 
independent. The review process is run by the Corps rather than outside 
the Agency, as required by the Senate bill.
  The Corps Chief of Engineers is given significant authority to decide 
the timing of review, the projects to be reviewed, and whether to 
implement a review panel's recommendations, and, apparently, even has 
the ability to control the flow of information received by the review 
panel.
  The Corps was not given the authority to determine the scope of the 
review, but in these other respects, it was given far too much 
authority, all of which will compromise the independence of the review 
that is performed.
  Second, it terminates the independent review provision 7 years after 
enactment. It is reasonable for Congress to continually evaluate how 
the program is working, but to presume there is not a need for a long-
term review and set a sunset date is irresponsible.
  Independent reviews should be permanently integrated into the Corp's 
planning process. The burden should be on the Corps to demonstrate why 
it does not need a congressionally mandated review process, rather than 
on Congress to wage another battle to extend the requirement in 7 
years.
  Third, it allows the Corps to exempt projects. The Senate provisions 
established mandatory review when clear

[[Page 25203]]

triggers are met. However, the conference report gives the Corps fairly 
broad discretion to decide what projects get reviewed. It expands the 
House's loophole allowing the Corps to exempt projects that exceed the 
mandatory $45 million cost trigger. The Corps can exempt Continuing 
Authority Program projects, certain rehabilitation projects, and, most 
egregiously, projects it determines are not controversial or only 
require an Environmental Assessment rather than a full-blown 
Environmental Impact Statement.
  It is this very decision, whether to do an EA or an EIS, that is 
often in need of review. Furthermore, a project's economic 
justification, engineering analysis, and formulation of project 
alternatives are critical elements that should be looked at for all 
major projects, not just those with significant environmental impact.
  The conference report also prevents review of most ongoing studies. 
Although the conference report allows the Corps to exempt projects from 
review, it does not give the Corps equal authority to include projects. 
The bill includes restrictive language that prevents the Corps from 
reviewing studies that were initiated more than 2 years ago, or that 
were initiated in the last 2 years but already have an ``array of 
alternatives'' identified, which occurs early in the process.
  The Senate language would have allowed the Corps to initiate a review 
for any project that does not have a draft feasibility report.
  The conference report also eliminates the requirement that a review 
is mandatory if requested by a Federal agency. The Senate bill would 
have made a project review mandatory if requested by a Federal agency 
with the authority to review Corps projects. Instead, the conference 
report gives the Corps the authority to reject the request and requires 
the Federal agency to appeal the decision to the Council on 
Environmental Quality.
  The Corps should be required to conduct a review made by the head of 
another agency that is charged with reviewing Corps projects or, at a 
minimum, to justify to the Council on Environmental Quality why it 
wants to deny such a request.
  The final problem I wish to highlight is the conference report does 
not make sure the Corps is accountable. The conference report 
eliminated a key provision in the Senate bill that ensured 
accountability. Specifically, the provision would have required that if 
a project ends up in court, the same weight is given to the panel and 
the Corps' opinion if the Corps cannot provide a good example for why 
it ignored the panel's recommendations. By dropping this accountability 
requirement, the conference report allows the Corps to ignore the 
panel's recommendations, as the Corps is currently doing with its own 
internal review process.
  I would love to be able to join my colleagues in claiming this is a 
``historic moment.'' I am pleased that some of the other reforms I 
fought for are included in this bill. We have come a long way in the 
last 7 years, as evidenced by the overwhelming bipartisan majority of 
my colleagues who supported the Senate's reforms last year and again 
earlier this year.
  But we have not come far enough, and that is truly regrettable. Why 
should the taxpayers of this country have to continue wondering if 
their dollars are being spent on projects that lack merit, hurt the 
environment or are not entirely reliable? Is not Congress finally 
willing to put an end to the longtime practice of doling out projects 
to Members regardless of those projects' merits? How many more flawed 
projects or wasted dollars will it take before we say enough?
  I am pleased the conference report contains some modest reforms, but 
we can do much better than that. In fact, we did much better than that 
when we passed the Senate bill not long ago. Congress needs to get this 
right; I think the stakes are too high.
  Unfortunately, for the reasons I have explained, the conference 
report fails to do enough. It contains severely compromised language 
that does not fix the status quo under which Congress uses the Corps to 
fund pet projects that are not justified or adequately reviewed.
  I wish to also express my concern with the cost of the bill which has 
ballooned to $23 billion, $23 billion from the $14, $15 billion cost of 
the House and Senate versions.
  Nearly $1 billion of the additional cost is for 19 projects that were 
added during conference, neither the Senate nor the House has 
previously reviewed these projects.
  My colleagues have previously stood on the Senate floor and said the 
cost of the bill does not matter because WRDA is merely an authorizing 
bill and not an appropriations bill. We will sort out our priorities 
later, they say.
  I think the American taxpayers join me in saying this is absolutely 
irresponsible and shirks our responsibilities as elected officials.
  There is already a $58 billion backlog of construction projects 
previously authorized, and with only $2 billion annually appropriated 
for project construction, this means the Nation's most pressing needs 
face significant competition for funding and likely delays.
  Furthermore, this bill authorizes a significant number of projects 
and studies that are beyond the Corps' primary mission areas. The Corps 
cannot be everything to everyone, and Congress does need to discipline 
itself and set priorities.
  I will continue to work with my colleagues to institute a system for 
prioritizing Corps projects and other critical reforms. We may have an 
opportunity to pass those reforms sooner than some had hoped. The 
administration has indicated the President will veto this bill, this 
bloated bill.
  Rather than overriding a veto, I hope the Congress will use that veto 
as an opportunity to rethink the flawed mindset that resulted in this 
bill and in previous WRDA bills. We do not do our constituents favors 
by spending their tax dollars on projects that are not justified or 
fully reviewed. We need reforms to make sure these tax dollars are 
spent in the most important priorities, not just on members' pork.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose the WRDA conference report.
  Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DURBIN.) The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate EPW Chair Boxer 
and Ranking Member Inhofe for bringing a balanced and much needed bill 
to the floor.
  Normally this bill is a 2-year authorization, but there has not been 
a bill, a WRDA bill, during this administration. So I will call it the 
Water Resources Development Act of 2001.
  Now, my State has nearly 1,000 miles of Missouri and Mississippi 
River frontage in addition to our lakes. Our communities rely on Corps 
projects for affordable water, transportation, flood protection, energy 
production, environmental protection, and recreational opportunities.
  Nobody knows better than the farmers of Missouri and the Midwest how 
important river transportation is to serve the world market. This bill 
for my constituents means jobs, trade competitiveness, reliable and 
affordable energy, drinking water, and protection from floods, which 
can ruin property and kill people.
  This is not of minor importance to those out in the world, in the 
Midwest, who work for a living. I am delighted we are completing our 
long journey to permit modernization of the Mississippi River locks. 
These locks were built during the Great Depression for paddle wheel 
boats 75 years ago. They were designed to last 50 years.
  Well, they are 25 years past their design lifetime. This is a long, 
much needed, overdue investment in infrastructure, jobs, trade 
competitiveness, and environmental protection.
  Sixty percent of all grain exports move through the bottleneck of 
obsolete locks. Some 30 percent of oil is shipped by barge, by 
waterway, a significant amount of coal, of cement, of fertilizer. A 
single medium-sized barge tow carries the same amount of freight as 870 
trucks. There is a comparison for railroad, but the railroads are so 
full they cannot carry any more; they are

[[Page 25204]]

at capacity. But it carries something akin to 2\1/2\ trainloads.
  These facts speak volumes for the cost, pollution, and fuel 
efficiencies of river transportation. Throughout this long and arduous 
process to complete a 2-year bill in 7 years, we have been blessed with 
strong bipartisan support for modernizing the locks. I have already 
referred to the relationship of our EPW Committee.
  Senator Grassley has been supportive of this from the start. We would 
not be here today without Senator Harkin, the occupant of the chair, 
Senator Durbin, Senator Obama, Senator McCaskill, and others from the 
Midwest playing a key role in this becoming law. I express my 
gratitude.
  Outside Congress, modernization of the old bottleneck looks has won 
the untiring support of agriculture, the waterways community, industry, 
labor, and community leaders. I am concerned the administration may 
veto this bill because they say it is too big. Well, if it were a 
normal 2-year bill, it would be big. But this is a 7-year bill; taking 
into account three cycles which we should have and have not yet passed 
a WRDA bill. So it is big by historic standards.
  When we total the three WRDA bills passed during the 5-year periods 
of 1996 to 2000, a 5-year period, the authorization levels totaled 
almost the same as this 7-year bill, almost $21 billion.
  Now, if there is a veto, I look forward to overriding it on a 
bipartisan basis as soon as action can be scheduled. This is an 
authorization bill. Without appropriations, it spends nothing. As 
Senators know, this bill simply adds projects to the list of items 
eligible for appropriations subject to the binding budget limitations 
faced under the appropriations process.
  Put another way, this is a license to hunt. You still to have hit the 
bird and you can't go over the limit. So all it is is a license to ask 
for appropriations. The backlog of unfunded items often referred to by 
opponents of this bill is unfunded because many of the projects are not 
sufficiently high priority within tight budgets. Some may be very good 
projects but they do not make the cut given the limited budget. Does it 
make sense to say that bills passed many years ago have to be funded 
before we can take a fresh look at priorities facing our waterway 
infrastructure and other waterway needs? I don't think so. Priorities 
change. Right now these items in this bill are the priorities that have 
been thoroughly vetted by the Corps, by all those who have input, and 
by the Environment and Public Works Committee in our body and in the 
Transportation Infrastructure Committee on the other side. I urge my 
colleagues to support it.
  To oppose new authorizations is simply a way to pretend to save money 
without saving money, while unwisely assuming that all currently 
authorized projects are of a higher priority than the newly authorized 
projects contained in this bill. In many ways, this will cost money, 
and I will talk about that in a minute. But if there were to be a veto, 
the unfortunate message for water States and agricultural States in the 
Midwest is that water resources are not a high priority to this 
administration, despite the expectation of many supporters in 2000, 
when supporters of waterways in Missouri came out in record numbers to 
carry the State for the current President. The previous administration 
was not supportive and this administration is no better. Our concerns 
started with proposed construction budget cuts. Then they fired Mike 
Parker, a strong proponent of water resources. Then they underfunded 
flood control and navigation on the Missouri River. Now it would be 
capped off by vetoing WRDA. I truly hope that doesn't happen. They 
would get a grade for consistency, except that they say they support 
aggressive trade policies. But they say nothing about the 
transportation capacity vital to move the goods they want to trade, so 
they say. Bulk commodities can't be faxed or e-mailed or Fed-Ex'd or 
UPS'd in the real world to the rest of the world. Again, on our 
waterways in Missouri, one medium-size barge tow carries the same 
freight as 870 trucks with cost, pollution, fuel efficiencies, economic 
and environmental benefits that are obvious to all.
  I was interested to read a November 2005 article in the Washington 
Times which reported that the President noted during a press conference 
with Panamanian President Torrijos: `` . . . it's in our nation's 
interest that this canal be modernized.'' I know the administration 
does not oppose modernizing the Social Security-age locks on the 
Mississippi River, built during the Depression for paddle-wheel boats, 
but they also have not yet even endorsed it. Yet there was a rousing 
endorsement for upgrading the waterways in Panama. My colleagues and my 
constituents back home believe our midwestern exporters deserve as much 
consideration as Chinese exporters who transit the Panama Canal. I 
remain hopeful the administration will agree.
  While no two of us would write the bill the same way, I am pleased so 
much work was done for so long by so many to find a compromise that 
could serve the diverse needs of a nation that needs water resources to 
function. Among a very long list, this bill is supported by the 
National Corn Growers Association, the Carpenters, operating engineers, 
laborers, American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean 
Association, and scores of members of the Waterway Counsel from coast 
to coast, communities large and small.
  Our staffs have been working tirelessly on this not for days or for 
weeks but years. It has been a long process. We have gotten to know 
them like family. There is almost some regret in knowing that our 
family will be broken up when this bill is signed into law. But maybe 
we can get back on schedule and have another WRDA bill in 2 years. The 
staff has been tremendous. They took on tough issues, set up difficult 
criteria, helped to sort through competing objectives, and they never 
quit. While there were many who worked very hard on this over the 
years, including Andy Wheeler, Ruth Van Mark, Angie Giancarlo, Ken 
Kopocis, Jeff Rosato, Tyler Rushford, Jo-Ellen Darcy, Mike Quiello, and 
others, I especially thank the bipartisan staff support of Let Mon Lee 
with the committee. Let Mon has been working with us for all these 
years. He is truly part of our family. We would hate to lose him, but 
if that is the price for passing WRDA, so be it.
  The success of our economy and its people owes a great debt to 
investments that were made by those before us. I urge my colleagues to 
make the investments now that will be providing the benefits for future 
generations and vote in favor of an opportunity and value for our 
future. We were reminded tragically a few weeks ago in Minnesota of the 
need to be vigilant in upgrading our infrastructure. When you see what 
happened in Minnesota, we saw a bridge collapse. There was a tragic 
loss of life. There was some disruption of commerce. But if one of 
these locks midway on the river between Missouri and Illinois at the 
bottom of the chain fails completely and bailing wire and chewing gum 
can only hold back the river so long and they leak not like sieves but 
by continuous sheets of water, if one of those locks were to blow out 
and fail, the impact on our economy, on commerce, would be huge, the 
impact we almost felt when Katrina shut off the mouth of the 
Mississippi River in Louisiana. Fortunately, they got that undone in a 
couple of days. But even papers that don't normally think about water 
commerce and agriculture were saying what a danger this was. A failure 
of one of these locks, one of these half-size, outdated, overaged locks 
could tremendously cripple our economy, put our rural economies into a 
significant downturn.
  I urge our leadership in this body to move quickly for a speedy 
override vote should a veto materialize. But again, my thanks, my 
congratulations, and deep appreciation to the Environment and Public 
Works Committee leadership and the diligent staff who have brought us 
to this point.
  It is time we pass the 2001 WRDA bill. It may be 6 years late, but it 
is even more needed now than it was in 2001.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?

[[Page 25205]]

  The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, is it a fact that I have 34 minutes 
remaining on my manager's time?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mrs. BOXER. Senator Feingold graciously said he would yield me the 
remainder of his time with the understanding that if he needed more, I 
would give him some of it. So what is his amount that is remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Twenty minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. I ask unanimous consent that that be done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, again, in a way I am glad I didn't have a 
chance to speak before because there has been so much interest in this 
bill that I waited until we had a little quieter time on the floor, 
although several are coming.
  Part of our work is making sure that in coordination with local 
governments and State governments and communities and the American 
people, we do what we need to do so we can build our economy, so our 
economy has behind it the infrastructure it needs. What happens when an 
infrastructure fails? We saw that in Minnesota when the bridge 
collapsed.
  I am proud the Environment and Public Works Committee held a very 
strong hearing at the behest of Senator Klobuchar, and we are moving 
forward on a way to ensure that we can fund those kinds of 
improvements. We saw what happens when water infrastructure fails, when 
we look at what happened in Hurricane Katrina. We saw that the levees 
we thought were built to protect against category 5 storms simply 
didn't stand up.
  There is no way we can talk our way out of the problem we face in 
America. The problem we face is we have an aging infrastructure. 
Whether it is our roads or bridges, our highways, or our water 
infrastructure, these need attention. That is why today is such an 
important day and why I am so proud to stand here, because even though 
not every Member will support this bill, I would say almost every 
Member will. Senator Feingold was eloquent and he was disappointed that 
we didn't do everything he and Senator McCain asked us on Corps reform. 
I understand that. We are very close friends and colleagues. The fact 
is, I see it a little differently. We went a very long way. I know he 
and I have our differences. What I wish to do, rather than take the 
time to engage in an argument, is to place in the Record the program 
highlights of Corps reform initiatives that are in this bill. I ask 
unanimous consent that this be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Water Resources Development Act of 2007 Corps Reform Initiatives--
                           Program Highlights


                           Independent Review

       Creates a truly independent review process of projects 
     through a program of mandatory reviews with reviewers 
     selected by the independent National Academy of Sciences.
       Projects over $45 million (with an expanded definition to 
     include beach nourishment projects), controversial projects, 
     and projects where a governor requests a review will all be 
     subject to independent review.
       The review applies to project studies plus environmental 
     impact statements.
       The review panels will be able examine all aspects of the 
     environmental, economic, and engineering aspects of the 
     proposed project.
       The review panels will have the opportunity to receive, 
     evaluate, and comment upon input from States, local 
     governments, and the public.
       Recommendations of the review panel must be a part of the 
     public project record, and any rejection of the 
     recommendations must be explained in the record.
       The costs of the review are Federal and are not contingent 
     upon future appropriations.


                        Safety Assurance Reviews

       Creates a new responsibility to have outside experts review 
     and assist the Corps of Engineers in the design and 
     construction of flood damage reduction or hurricane and storm 
     damage reduction projects to improve the performance of these 
     critical, life-saving projects.


                               Mitigation

       Corps projects would have to comply with the same 
     mitigation standards and policies established under section 
     404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as any other 
     entity.
       Corps mitigation plans must provide for the same or greater 
     ecosystem values as those lost to a water resources project 
     through implementation of not less than in-kind mitigation.
       Corps studies must include detailed mitigation plans that 
     can be evaluated by the public and the Congress, including 
     specific statements on the ability to carry out the 
     mitigation plan.
       Eliminates the Senate language that could have delayed 
     mitigation up to one year.
       Establishes requirements for the Corps to conduct 
     monitoring of mitigation implementation until ecological 
     success criteria are met. In evaluating success, the Corps 
     must consult yearly with applicable Federal and State 
     agencies on mitigation status.
       The increased mitigation requirements apply to all new 
     studies and any other project that must be reevaluated for 
     any reason.
       Requires the Corps to develop and implement a publicly 
     available mitigation reporting system.


                   Planning Principles and Guidelines

       Requires the Secretary to revise the planning Principles 
     and Guidelines for the first time since 1983. The process 
     must be in consultation with Federal agencies, and must 
     solicit and consider public and expert comments.
       The factors to be included in the revised Principles and 
     Guidelines include the elements from both the Senate and 
     House bills, ensuring the broadest look at the existing 
     document and incorporating the most current and accurate 
     concepts.
       Establishes a national policy to maximize sustainable 
     economic development, avoid the unwise use of floodplains and 
     minimize adverse impacts and vulnerabilities in floodplains; 
     and protect and restore the functions of natural systems and 
     mitigate any unavoidable impacts.
       Requires a comprehensive report on U.S. vulnerabilities and 
     comparative risks related to flooding.


                        Watershed-based Planning

       Increases Federal participation in watershed-based planning 
     to eliminate the lack of integration of the 
     interconnectedness of projects--a major short-coming of the 
     failure of the hurricane protection in New Orleans.


                              Levee Safety

       Creates a National Levee Safety Assessment program, in 
     cooperation with the States, to address the lack of 
     information on and assessment of levees.
       Creates a publicly available database with an inventory of 
     levees.
       Requires a Federal inspection and public disclosure of all 
     Federally-owned or operated levees, all Federally constructed 
     but non-Federally operated levees, and non-Federally 
     constructed levees if requested by the owner.


                       Other Program Improvements

       Expedites the process for deauthorizing the unconstructed 
     backlog of projects.
       Creates a Federal responsibility to participate in the 
     monitoring of ecosystem restoration projects to ensure 
     project success.
       Allows for non-profit entities to partner with the Corps of 
     Engineers in implementing projects, which is especially 
     important on small-scale environmental restoration projects.
       Clarifies that the cost-sharing reforms enacted in 1986 
     apply to all projects and studies, stopping the Corps of 
     Engineers from creating waivers and loopholes.
       Expands opportunities for the beneficial reuse of dredged 
     material for restoration and preservation benefits.
       Ensures the authority of the Corps of Engineers to 
     participate in ecosystem restoration projects that include 
     dam removal.

  Mrs. BOXER. What everyone will be able to read is the independent 
review we now have in place in the bill that is truly independent, done 
by the National Academy of Sciences, which includes safety assurance 
reviews, mitigation, planning principles and guidelines, watershed-
based planning, levee safety, and other program improvements, including 
expediting the process for deauthorizing the unconstructed backlog of 
projects. Rather than get into a big argument, to me it is such a 
positive day today.
  I see the Senator from Virginia coming to say a few words.
  This is a very important day. We are struggling in the Senate to work 
together. The war in Iraq has torn us apart. It is very hard. But on 
this matter of building an infrastructure and making sure it works, we 
are as one. This conference report has the support of my ranking 
member, Senator Inhofe, the entire Environment and Public Works 
Committee. It is important to note that the conference report was 
signed by every conferee from both Chambers. The conference report was 
signed by every conferee, Republican, Democratic, Independent, as they 
may be, in both Chambers. The conference

[[Page 25206]]

report has already received an overwhelming vote in the House: 381 in 
favor; 40 opposed. Imagine what a wonderful message that is that we can 
work together.
  I also say for the record that this conference report fully complies 
with the rules of the Senate as amended by S. 1, the Honest Leadership 
and Open Government Act of 2007. Under the requirements of new rule 
XLIV, I certify that each congressionally directed spending item in the 
conference report and the name of each Senator who submitted a request 
to the committee for that item has been identified through a chart that 
has been available on the committee Web site at least 48 hours prior to 
the vote on this conference report. So we have been faithful as we must 
be to the new rule XLIV on our ethics, where you can see what every 
Senator requested and a certification that in fact there is no conflict 
of interest, no pecuniary interest on the part of the Senator or any 
member of the immediate family. This is truly a bipartisan bill.
  I am going to make a unanimous consent request that at the conclusion 
of my 10 minutes, Senator Cardin be recognized for up to 10 minutes and 
that then Senator Warner be recognized.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I believe I was on the floor before the 
Senator from Maryland.
  Mrs. BOXER. Well, the Senator from Maryland has been on the floor all 
day.
  Mr. WARNER. Fine. Well, I am not trying to run this.
  Mrs. BOXER. How much time would my colleague wish?
  Mr. WARNER. I am going to take 2 or 3 minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Then why don't we give you 5 minutes first and then 10 
minutes for Senator Cardin.
  Mr. WARNER. Does that accommodate my colleague?
  Mrs. BOXER. He is very pleased with that.
  How many more minutes do I have on my 10 minutes?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 23 minutes remaining.
  Mrs. BOXER. So, again, we have complied with the new ethics rules. I 
want to say also, in terms of the Corps reform matters, there is an 
environmental organization, American Rivers, and they have written a 
very important release that I ask unanimous consent to have printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    American Rivers, August 1, 2007

    Water Bill Begins Process of Modernizing the Corps of Engineers

       Washington, DC--In a move that will help communities, 
     taxpayers, and the environment, a House-Senate Conference 
     Committee has produced reforms in a bill that will improve 
     how the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) does business. The 
     Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA), H.R. 1495, 
     will begin moving the Corps into the 21st century.
       The Corps is the nation's primary river management agency 
     and in 2006 accepted responsibility for faulty floodwall and 
     levee designs that led to the tragic flooding of New Orleans 
     following Hurricane Katrina. The Corps' designs were so 
     flawed that levees and floodwalls collapsed in the face of a 
     storm they should have withstood. Corps projects also 
     destroyed vital coastal wetlands that could have reduced the 
     Hurricane's storm surge, and funneled that surge into the 
     heart of New Orleans. The problems with Corps planning 
     highlighted by Katrina affect Corps projects across the 
     country.
       The WRDA bill will produce critical improvements to the 
     Corps' planning process, including requiring an update of the 
     Corps' woefully obsolete planning guidelines that dictate how 
     the Corps evaluates specific projects. The bill will also 
     require the Corps to do a much better job of replacing 
     habitat lost to its projects. The Corps now routinely ignores 
     the basic wetlands mitigation standards that the agency 
     applies to private citizens. The bill will also establish a 
     new policy that gives a stronger emphasis on protecting the 
     environment and the natural systems that provide critical 
     natural flood protection to communities. It also directs that 
     there be a comprehensive study of the nation's flood risks 
     and flood management programs.
       ``The reforms in this bill begin to put the Corps on track 
     towards becoming a more reliable and credible agency,'' says 
     American Rivers' president Rebecca Wodder. ``While we hoped 
     that Congress would go farther in several critical areas, we 
     are pleased with the passage of this first round of urgently 
     needed changes. We intend to see that these changes are 
     executed to their fullest extent and call out any weaknesses 
     in this new process.''
       The gains in the WRDA bill would not have been possible 
     without the tireless work from lawmakers on both sides of the 
     aisle, and both sides of Capitol Hill. Senators Russ Feingold 
     (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ) have long championed the issue 
     of Corps reform, and Senate Environment and Public Works 
     Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and House Transportation and 
     Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) deserve praise 
     for working to change key aspects of how the Corps operates.
       Unfortunately, the conferees failed to adopt the robust 
     independent review provision that Senators Russ Feingold (D-
     WI) and John McCain (R-AZ) and others had secured in the 
     Senate version of the WRDA bill in the last 2 years. The 
     conferees instead adopted a project review provision that 
     lacks complete independence. The final bill contains several 
     loopholes that would allow the Corps to avoid review under 
     certain circumstances and ignore a review panel's 
     recommendations. Worse still, the provision also inexplicably 
     disappears after 7 years. Independent review is particularly 
     important in light of the flooding of New Orleans and the 
     recent Government Accountability Office findings that Corps 
     project studies were so flawed that they could not provide a 
     reasonable basis for decision making.
       ``The nation has been very well served by the critical 
     leadership of Senators Feingold and McCain to reform the 
     Corps,'' says Melissa Samet, Senior Director for Water 
     Resources for American Rivers. ``We look forward to working 
     with them to ensure that the Corps strictly adheres to the 
     reforms included in this bill and that additional reforms as 
     included in future legislation.''
       ``Congress has taken a first step towards more responsible 
     river management,'' adds Wodder. ``American Rivers and our 
     colleagues throughout the nation will be watching to see that 
     the Corps lives up to the intent of the original authors of 
     this legislation and we will continue to fight further 
     reforms to ensure public safety and environmental 
     sustainability.''

  Mrs. BOXER. They certainly believe we should have gone further with 
Corps reform. That is clear.
  But they do say:

       The reforms in this bill begin to put the Corps on track 
     towards becoming a more reliable and credible agency.

  This is important. They do say:

       The gains in the WRDA bill would not have been possible 
     without the tireless work from lawmakers on both sides of the 
     aisle.

  They name some names of Senators.
  Even though, as I say, they would have wanted 100 percent of what 
Senator Feingold asked for, they again say:

       Congress has taken a first step towards more responsible 
     river management.

  I feel pleased with this result. I know sometimes we see a glass half 
full and sometimes we see it half empty. I see it half full. I am proud 
we made these amazing strides toward Corps reform. Senator Feingold is, 
shall we say, very disappointed, and I respect that. I do not see it 
the way he sees it.
  So when I come back to some more of my time--but I will yield at this 
time--I will talk about how important this bill is to the health and 
safety of our families, our communities, and our economy. At this time 
I yield and we will go to the unanimous consent agreement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I listened with great interest to our 
distinguished chairwoman. I say to her, I commend you on your 
leadership and that of our distinguished ranking colleague, Senator 
Inhofe. It is quite an achievement. It has been 6 years of working to 
get here, and I have been pleased to be a member of this committee for 
a couple decades almost now. But it is a great achievement. I strongly 
support what you have been able to do and personally thank you for your 
inclusion of an amendment that I have felt very important. Senator 
Webb, my colleague from Virginia, and I announced on July 30 the basic 
text of that amendment. I am pleased today to add a few closing words.
  The conference report--likely my last WRDA as a Senator--includes the 
high priority Craney Island Eastward Expansion project. Craney Island 
represents a significant opportunity for the Commonwealth to be home to 
the development of state-of-the-art cargo operations. The project will 
accommodate a major new terminal for the Virginia Port Authority and 
will create

[[Page 25207]]

over 54,000 new jobs annually, with wages of about $1.7 billion.
  Now, this port serves not only the Commonwealth of Virginia, but its 
tentacles reach deep into America. Many States are served.
  As home to the world's largest naval base; that is, the Tidewater 
region, and as one of the business commercial ports on the east coast, 
Hampton Roads is a strategic, critical port necessary for national 
defense, commerce, and trade. So this project will also directly and 
indirectly serve our national defense.
  This project will help position the Hampton Roads region to 
strengthen its position as a major east coast port. The Port of 
Virginia serves as a gateway. It is an interesting term; it is a 
``gateway.'' In other words, things flow in, things flow out, and not 
just for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Almost every State in the Union 
ships down through this port on some occasions. More than 55 percent of 
the cargo we move comes from outside of the borders of the Commonwealth 
of Virginia. That is to say, this project is not just important for 
Virginians but for other States and companies that rely on their goods 
moving through the port in a reliable and cost-effective, safe manner.
  For that reason, I am pleased the cost share for this project will be 
equally divided--equally divided--between the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
through its port authority, and the Federal Government. This is clearly 
a project with strong national benefits, and it is only fitting that in 
this case the Federal Government help shoulder part of the cost because 
of the national security interests and the fact that we serve so many 
other States.
  Again, I thank my distinguished chairman and the ranking member of 
our committee and others who made this amendment possible.
  I yield back the remainder of my time to my good friend and 
colleague, such as he may continue with his speech.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, if I might make a unanimous consent 
request before my good colleague speaks.
  First of all, because my friends on the other side are looking for 
time, I yield them 3 minutes of my time, to Senator Inhofe, right off 
the bat--3 minutes. If the Chair could add that to the time they have 
remaining.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following 
Senator Cardin, Senator DeMint be recognized for up to 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the conference report 
on the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. I start by thanking 
Senator Boxer for her incredible leadership and Senator Inhofe for 
bringing forward a process that allows us to reach this moment where, 
after 7 years, we are going to be able to pass a Water Resources 
Development Act.
  Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe have developed a process where we 
could come forward with programs that are extremely important to our 
country in a fiscally responsible manner, where we can come together in 
a nonpartisan--not only bipartisan but nonpartisan--way to move forward 
on this legislation.
  Let me start off by saying that in our country today we spend .3 
percent of our gross domestic product on infrastructure and buildings. 
That is deplorable. We saw the consequences of that failure to invest 
in our infrastructure--in our roads and our bridges and our buildings--
in what happened in Minnesota with the collapse of a bridge.
  In the Environment and Public Works Committee, we had a hearing on 
what we need to do as far as wastewater treatment facility plants and 
how there are literally hundreds of projects that go unfunded that are 
damaging our health and damaging our environment.
  Well, today we are prepared to move forward with what I think is an 
extremely important bill. Once again, I congratulate the leadership on 
the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Boxer, for making 
this possible.
  This bill is very important to our country. It is very important to 
our future. I am proud to be a member of the committee and proud to be 
a supporter of this legislation.
  Let me comment for a few minutes as to what it means for the region 
of the country I represent, in this general area where we all are 
today.
  We have heard a lot about how this is going to help the people of 
Louisiana, which I strongly support. I think we all have a 
responsibility to deal with the problems from Katrina. We heard how it 
is going to help in regard to the Everglades.
  This bill is the most important act in regard to the Chesapeake Bay, 
which is a national treasure, and helps give a model as to how we can 
reclaim a body of water that is impacted by so many jurisdictions and 
States. We not only provide for the restoration funds that are 
important for the Chesapeake Bay, but we also provide, for the very 
first time, that the Army Corps will supplement the Environmental 
Protection Agency's effort to repair and improve wastewater treatment 
facilities that benefit the Chesapeake Bay.
  Specifically, Blue Plains will benefit from this legislation. The 
users in northern Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia--all 
of us--will benefit from the wastewater treatment facility improvements 
at Blue Plains.
  The new EPA permit for Blue Plains requires that the nitrogen load 
from the plant be reduced by more than 4 million pounds annually. This 
will be the largest single nutrient reduction project in the bay 
watershed in a decade. All the experts say that should be our highest 
priority in regard to the Chesapeake Bay.
  I am also pleased there is $20 million in regard to oyster 
restoration included in this legislation, which is very important for 
the Chesapeake Bay and very important for our environment. So we are 
improving the Chesapeake Bay by this legislation, but we are also 
dealing with the economic realities of our waterways.
  The Port of Baltimore contributes $2 billion to our State's economy, 
employing 18,000 Marylanders directly, and tens of thousands more 
indirectly.
  I listened to my colleague from Virginia talk about the Port of 
Virginia. As with the Port of Virginia, the Port of Baltimore is vital 
to our national security, our national interest. This legislation 
extends the authorization for the 50-foot dredging of the Baltimore 
Harbor and channels, which is very important to our economy, very 
important to our region.
  But the legislation does more. It continues the commitment of the 
Army Corps and our communities to Poplar Island. Poplar Island was once 
an inhabited island. It is no longer the case. But what we have done 
with Poplar Island is we have made it a plus-plus. We have a location 
for the dredge materials from the dredging in the Chesapeake Bay and 
our harbors, but we have also created an environmental advantage. 
Poplar Island has risen phoenix-like from the waters of the Chesapeake 
Bay.
  Mr. President, 570 acres of upland habitat and an additional 570 
acres of wetland habitat are being created through the leadership of 
this Congress. That is good news for our environment and good news for 
our economy. Poplar Island is a national model of how we should do the 
dredging and environmental improvements. There is more in it for our 
region.
  Smith Island is a remote inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay on 
the Maryland-Virginia border. It has lost 3,300 acres of wetlands, and 
it is threatened to be totally lost to erosion. This bill authorizes 
the construction of 2 miles of breakwaters to protect over 2,100 acres 
of wetlands and underwater grassbeds. It is very important to our 
environment, very important to the people who happen to live on Smith 
Island. I am pleased we have included that in this legislation.
  This bill helps from the eastern shore of Maryland, to the Chesapeake 
Bay, to the mountains of western Maryland. The rewatering of the C&O 
Canal near Cumberland will not only help as far as the historical 
restoration of that part

[[Page 25208]]

of our State but will also be important for flood control.
  This legislation is comprehensive. It helps all the regions of our 
country, but helps our Nation as a whole. I am proud to be a supporter 
of this legislation. I am proud to have served on the committee that 
helped create it. I urge my colleagues not only to support this 
legislation but urge the President to please understand how important 
this bill is to our country.
  It is a modest investment. It starts to reverse the process where, 
for too long, we have ignored our infrastructure in this country. It is 
the right plan for America's future. I urge my colleagues to support 
it.
  I yield back my time and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I rise to express my concerns and 
disappointment about a number of provisions that have been added to 
this bill, the Water Resources Development Act, the bill we refer to as 
WRDA, that were not part of the bill we passed in the Senate or not 
part of the bill that was passed in the House.
  These provisions are earmarks because they direct spending directly 
at the request of a Member to a specific entity in their home State or 
district. Unfortunately, these earmarks were not passed by either body 
in an open or transparent way. Instead, they were added behind closed 
doors in the dark of night, as we sometimes say here. As a result, 
these earmarks cannot easily be debated, amended, or removed from the 
bill.
  I am very disappointed these provisions were added in secret. That is 
not how we should do things here, and it is a direct violation of a 
stated goal of the ethics bill that was recently passed and signed by 
the President 10 days ago.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle came down to the floor 
one by one and praised the new ethics bill because they said it would 
stop earmarks from being added in the dark of night. I questioned the 
effectiveness of these provisions at that time because they had been 
watered down behind closed doors. Yet my colleagues on the other side 
said it was the most sweeping ethics reform in decades. They said there 
would be no more secret earmarks added to our bills in conference.
  According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, this WRDA conference report 
contains numerous earmarks that were not part of either the House or 
the Senate bill. Unfortunately, anytime we talk about earmarks, it 
seems very personal because it usually has a Member's name on it, so I 
will start with South Carolina because one of the earmarks added in 
conference was for South Carolina. Obviously, I would like to do 
everything I can to help my own State, but this was not the time or the 
way to do it. There are a number of items for $10 million, $11 million, 
but, unfortunately, there is one item in here for $1.8 billion. That 
earmark alone is more than 10 percent of the total cost of the original 
bill. This was added in conference. It was not debated or voted on. Now 
it is coming back and it is unamendable.
  All of these projects that were added have added to the cost of this 
bill, and actually the cost has exploded. According to the 
Congressional Budget Office, the projects contained in this bill 
totalled some $14 billion when it left the Senate, but then it was 
taken to conference. Behind closed doors, amounts were raised, new 
projects were added, reforms were dropped, and the bill now costs $23.2 
billion. That is right. The price of this bill has increased 66 percent 
since it left the floor of the Senate.
  I know my colleagues, the Senator from California and the Senator 
from Oklahoma, have worked very hard on this bill, and I believe there 
are some good things in it. I was very pleased to work with the Senator 
from California on some reforms that will help us deauthorize projects 
that have not been funded in 5 years or more and are currently 
inactive. As my colleagues know, the long list of backlogged projects 
makes it very difficult for the Corps of Engineers to focus on real 
priorities. I am looking forward to working with the Senator from 
California to get a good list of the inactive projects from the 
administration so the committee can deauthorize them in the next WRDA 
bill. The Senator has told me she will deauthorize these projects, but 
if for some reason we are not able to get that done, this bill provides 
an automatic mechanism to deauthorize by the end of the fiscal year, 
following the fiscal year in which the projects appear on the inactive 
list. This reform is more important than ever because the bill we are 
passing now or bringing back up now increases the backlog of projects 
from $58 billion to approximately $80 billion. So while this bill takes 
one step forward, unfortunately, it takes two steps back.
  The pricetag of this bill is too high, and it violates an important 
principle we need to honor. It includes new provisions that were not in 
the bills we passed, and that has to stop. That is why I offered an 
amendment, along with Senator Ensign and Senator McCain, to the ethics 
bill earlier this year that would clarify that earmarks added in 
conference were subject to rule XXVIII of the standing rules of the 
Senate, which prohibits what we call out-of-scope matter from being 
added to our bills in conference and which can only be waived by 67 
votes. Further, the amendment we offered would have created a 60-vote 
point of order against earmarks added in conference. If this point of 
order was sustained, the provisions would be taken out of the bill.
  Even the liberal Los Angeles Times editorial board this weekend made 
their support for such a rule known. In a weekend editorial entitled 
``The Value of Congressional Pork,'' the L.A. Times said such a rule 
was a worthy proposal that would make it harder for lawmakers to insert 
last-minute goodies during reconciliation of Senate and House bills. 
This is just plain good Government.
  Unfortunately, the clarification to rule XXVIII was eliminated from 
the final bill, even though it was unanimously accepted here on the 
floor in January. Even worse, the majority leader is now saying the 60-
vote point of order against what we call airdropped earmarks should 
only apply to appropriations bills. This is very disappointing. There 
is absolutely no reason why we should restrict authorization earmarks. 
They can be as wasteful, as misguided and, I am afraid, as corrupting 
as appropriations earmarks. Authorization earmarks can be traded for 
bribes as easily as appropriations earmarks.
  After checking with the Senate Parliamentarian, I understand there is 
some confusion over the definition of earmarks for this particular 
rule. The rule says it applies to provisions that provide a level of 
funding to a specific project. What could be clearer? All the projects 
I read about earlier fit that definition, regardless of whether they 
are appropriations or authorizations. If people want to parse these 
terms and say authorizations are not actual funding, then I am afraid 
we are not being completely honest.
  We all know how the Corps of Engineers works. We pass WRDA bills that 
tell the Corps what projects to do, and then their annual 
appropriations bills provide money to complete these projects. But 
without an authorization in WRDA, the projects will not go forward. 
Authorizations are important, and we should be as open and as 
transparent about them as we are for appropriations.
  I intended to raise a point of order today against these new 
provisions under rule XLIV which was part of the ethics bill, but I 
understand the unanimous consent agreement we are operating under 
prohibits me from doing so. In a minute I am going to ask for unanimous 
consent to be allowed to make this point of order against the 
provision, and if I am allowed to do that and the Chair rules that the 
point of order is acceptable under the rule, then, of course, I would 
urge my colleagues to sustain this point of order so we can take these 
provisions out. But before I do this, I would like to ask how much time 
I have remaining of my 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 11\1/2\ minutes remaining.

[[Page 25209]]


  Mr. DeMINT. I would like to reserve the remainder of my time but 
yield 5 minutes to my colleague, Senator McCaskill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator yielding me 
some time. This is a unique bill in many ways. It is unique because 
there is a different set of rules when it comes to the water projects 
bill and the water resources development in this country for the Army 
Corps of Engineers. I believe as a former auditor we should be allowing 
the Army Corps of Engineers to direct funding based on a cost-benefit 
analysis. A cost-benefit analysis would allow the prioritization of 
projects based on the best value for our dollar.
  The law requires, unlike any other place in our Government--it was 
explained to me when I got here the law requires that Congress direct 
this spending. I am uncomfortable with that. This is the only place 
this year that my name is listed on a specific funding request for 
Missouri, and I am not comfortable with that. I understand it is a 
reality this law requires, that if Congress is not directing this 
funding, there is no funding. I believe very much we should reform the 
way we fund the Army Corps of Engineers projects. I believe it should 
be driven by a cost-benefit analysis.
  It is hard to understand why in this area, unlike any other area, not 
only are we in a position to decide level of funding, we are going to 
decide every single project. Now, since this is so unique, it is even 
more important that we have complete transparency. Even though I was 
uncomfortable with requesting specific funding, I understood the unique 
nature of this particular bill, but I was comforted by the fact that I 
believed all the projects were going to have a public airing, that they 
were going to be included in either the House bill or the Senate bill, 
and that there were not going to be any projects that were put into the 
authorization bill through the conference process. Unfortunately, that 
happened. That would bring me to the point of having to vote no on this 
bill because I believe very strongly in the principle that whatever we 
include must be included in either the deliberations of the House or 
the Senate.
  This isn't about the projects and the merit of the projects. I am 
sure they are all very meritorious. In fact, painfully for me, one of 
them is in Missouri. This isn't about the projects; this is about the 
process. This isn't about Democrats and this isn't about Republicans. 
This is about a bad habit. This is about getting into the habit of 
directing authorization or spending in a conference report instead of 
under the bright lights of the Senate floor, the House Floor or 
committee work. We need to stop putting projects in conference reports 
that were not in the bill. Some people will say it doesn't matter; we 
have a backlog of all these projects. Well, if it doesn't matter, why 
do we need to do it? If it does matter, it ought to be important enough 
to be in one bill or the other.
  I believe we need to reform not only the way we fund the Corps of 
Engineers, to give more deference to their discretion based on cost-
benefit analysis, and I believe we need to stop the bad habit of always 
putting projects in a conference report without the full affirmation 
and public airing that the House and Senate deliberations provide.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks of my colleague. 
I would like to confirm what she has said. I take no issue with the 
authority of the Senate to designate spending, particularly in 
authorization bills. While this practice has certainly been abused, 
particularly in our appropriations bills over the years, my point today 
is not to suggest that our committee and the floor of the Senate do not 
have the right to authorize money for particular projects, but I 
believe, as Senator McCaskill has said and made clear, that in the 
debate on the Senate floor, it seemed we unanimously agreed these 
projects should be brought to the floor of the Senate and that if 
someone wanted to question them, we could have those amendments, and we 
could ultimately vote on the whole package. But it seemed clear we all 
agreed that new earmarks should not be added in conference and then for 
that conference bill to come back without any chance of amending it. 
That is not the type of business we talked about in the whole ethics 
debate. So my issue is not with our ability to earmark or even the 
practice of authorization bills designating spending but that they are 
added in conference when we all agreed that if it was not added in 
either the Senate or the House bill, it could not be added in 
conference.
  For that reason, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to raise a 
point of order under rule XLIV.
  Mrs. BOXER. I object. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, 
let me say this. For 7 years, we waited for flood control and then we 
saw Katrina. For 7 years, we have waited for environmental restoration. 
For 7 years, we have waited for navigation improvements. For 7 years, 
we have waited, and the bottom line is, every single project in this 
bill has a letter attached to it saying who asked for it, whether it 
was added in conference, added in the first bill, the second or the 
third.
  I would urge that we get on with this today, and I object to the 
unanimous consent request that we slow this thing down.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is noted.
  The Senator from South Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I would like to suggest that one of the 
reasons New Orleans was not prepared for Katrina is we have so many 
problems with our infrastructure in the way we politically meddle with 
the priorities of States, particularly with the Corps of Engineers that 
has a backlog of billions of dollars over many years. We refuse to 
clear out those backlogs so the Corps can focus on that which needs to 
be done, such as the levees in New Orleans. Instead, year after year, 
we add one earmark after another, until the Corps has no focus at all 
on what they are doing, and we are trying to direct from Washington 
what our water projects should be.
  The fact that we have plussed this bill up from $14 billion to over 
$23 billion, a 66-percent increase since this bill left the Senate 
floor, says we have to have some shame. We have to have some honor in 
this body. If we are going to do this, let's do it in a way that we all 
said we would, and that is to bring these to the floor so we can debate 
and vote on them instead of adding them in and trying to slip them by 
in a conference bill.
  I am very disappointed in this body, particularly after all the grand 
debate about ethics reform, the disclosure of earmarks, the fact that 
none would be added in secret. Over the last few weeks, we have pretty 
much backtracked on everything we have talked about, to the point where 
even liberal publications across the country are talking about the pork 
we are producing in the Senate. Instead of doing the Nation's business 
and delegating authority to States, we are in effect weakening our 
ability to have a national infrastructure that is safe and works for 
all Americans. I am very disappointed not only that this has been done 
but that a Member of the Senate is not even allowed to raise a point of 
order against the fact that it has been done.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Whitehouse). The Senator from California 
is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I yield myself 4 minutes at this time.
  Mr. President, it is my understanding that now I have 14 minutes 
remaining on my side. Senator Inhofe has how much time remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. He has 22\1/2\, and the Senator has about 
13\1/2\.
  Mrs. BOXER. And Senator Feingold retains 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mrs. BOXER. If he doesn't take that 20 minutes, Senator Inhofe and I 
will share that time.

[[Page 25210]]

  I am sorry that Senator DeMint has left the floor, which oftentimes 
happens after a Senator speaks. But I have to say that when I said we 
need to do these Katrina-related fixes, his answer was that the reason 
we had a problem with Katrina in the first place is the Corps didn't do 
a good job, and I think certainly the Corps didn't live up to our 
expectations. But what Senator DeMint doesn't mention is that in this 
bill before us, because of the hard work of Senator Feingold and 
others, we have now put into this bill an independent review process 
where there will be no projects going forward unless and until there is 
an independent report that the National Academy of Sciences will, in 
fact, oversee. We have gone light years from where we were before. That 
is why we have so much strong support for the bill. The Audubon Society 
supports the bill, along with the Clean Water Fund, the Conservancy of 
Southwest Florida, the American Shore and Beach Preservation Society, 
the National Water Resources Association, and on and on and on. The 
fact is, if we had allowed the DeMint request to go forward, we would 
be back to square one. We cannot afford that. It has been 7 long years.
  Again, the health of our communities is at stake. The safety of our 
families is at stake. I could talk about Sacramento. Finally, we have 
language in the authorization to move forward with the proper flood 
control for the community of Sacramento. Mr. President, 300,000 people 
live there. It is the home of our State, the capital of our State. We 
finally reached agreement. These are not agreements that come from the 
top down; they come from local government up. I think it is important, 
as colleagues come to the floor to in a way demean this process, to 
understand if they demean the process, they are demeaning their own 
communities. In Oklahoma, or in California, or Georgia--I see Senator 
Isakson here. He and Senator Baucus were invaluable to Senator Inhofe 
and me in doing all of this.
  The fact is these projects and these ideas and these needs come up 
from local governments. As a matter of fact, homeowners' associations 
find themselves faced with dangerous circumstances because a river is 
rising and there have not been the needed improvements. Senator Inhofe 
and I share a commitment to shoring up our infrastructure, including 
water resources, and I think when we look at all of the things that 
come before us--and we are so torn in half here, Democrat versus 
Republican--here we have an opportunity to move forward in a bipartisan 
fashion. As Senator Inhofe would say in his way, because he has been 
hammering at this, this is one step of a very important process. We 
have added these independent reviews so that we have checks and 
balances all the way through.
  I will retain the remainder of my time. I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, it is my understanding that we have 22 
minutes remaining.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I yield 7 minutes to the Senator from 
Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the Senator from Oklahoma and Chairman Boxer and 
Subcommittee Chairman Baucus for their outstanding work on the WRDA 
bill. I urge my colleagues to support the conference report and point 
out the critical need for the infrastructure we have in this country.
  Historically, every 2 years we have passed the WRDA bill. Now we have 
gone 7 years without that. What happened in the last 7 years? We have 
had significant droughts, we have had Katrina, and we have had other 
great tragedies. It is about time that we came back to the floor and 
passed a comprehensive bill.
  I know there has been criticism of the amount of the bill. I saw a 
CBO score of about $23 billion. I remind my colleagues that this is an 
authorization, No. 1. No. 2, it is 7 years in the making, not 2. No. 3, 
we have had significant tragedies and have significant threats in our 
own States that need to be addressed and need to be prioritized.
  I will take my own State as an example. I represent a State with a 
major metropolitan area, Atlanta. That city has 5 million people whose 
water source is Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River. We don't have 
aquifers in the north to draw from, only the surface water that we 
retain. Through the leadership of a visionary Governor a few years ago, 
we passed the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District to take the 
consolidated area of north Georgia and put it into a singular planning 
district for water purposes, management of storm water, to see if we 
could maximize the return we get on the investment we make in the most 
precious thing we have, our water.
  This legislation has money for conveyance systems. Local water 
authorities joined together with a regional plan to cooperate and build 
a solid water infrastructure.
  Secondly, the Big Creek Water Management and Restoration Program is 
in here, which I started 9 years ago with the city of Roswell, which 
was developed to manage storm water, its runoff, and control water 
better in a major urban area. It was cited by the EPA as one of the 
most outstanding projects of its type in America.
  Also in here is a very visionary agreement between the Governor of 
Georgia and the Governor of South Carolina, who signed a bistate water 
compact for the construction of a port to be operated jointly by the 
State of Georgia and the State of South Carolina in Jasper County, SC, 
on the Savannah River. The Ports of Charleston and Savannah are two of 
the major ports on the east coast of the United States. With this 
planned agreement and the funding that pays for the study put up by 
those States, and the study authorized in this legislation, these two 
States will set a historic precedent to reach out together and form 
partnerships so as to make the maximum use of the port capabilities and 
facilities of our States on the Atlantic Coast.
  A lot of work has gone into this legislation. Senator Inhofe has 
worked tirelessly, as has Chairman Boxer, but I want to mention the 
ones who don't get much credit: Mike Quiello and Caroline McLean, on my 
own staff; Angie Giancarlo; Let Mon Lee; Jeff Rosato; Ken Kopocis; 
Tyler Rushforth; Paul Wilkins; and Jo-Ellen Darcy, all who spent 
countless hours to make this legislation come to pass.
  I thank the ranking member for the time. I commit my vote to passage 
of the conference report and ask my colleagues to join me and show a 
significant vote for the WRDA conference committee report.
  I yield back my time.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first, let me thank the Senator from 
Georgia. Working on these authorization committees is not easy. We have 
a lot of hearings and a lot of expertise, people looking, studying to 
see what is deserving to be authorized. I can tell you that the Senator 
from Georgia--I don't know of a member on the committee who has worked 
harder, or maybe even as hard as the Senator from Georgia. So I thank 
him for coming here today and making his statement.
  I know my good friend from South Carolina, Senator DeMint, would not 
intentionally misrepresent anything, but when he says once it is 
authorized, it is just like spending, that isn't true. I know he hasn't 
thought that through or he would not make that statement. We have a 
backlog, which has already been talked about several times here--a 
backlog of some $32 billion of Corps projects that have been authorized 
but haven't been done. That speaks for itself. They are out there. How 
can you say that--by the way, it is worthwhile saying or some people 
might say: Why are you authorizing more if they haven't even done 
those? Maybe some of them are no longer necessary. I will give you a 
couple examples. In Oklahoma, we have a channel that goes all the way 
to Muskogee, OK, or the Port of Katusa. A lot of people don't think of 
us as being navigable in Oklahoma, but we are. It is a short distance 
that is 9 feet, where the choke is. So we have had it authorized for a 
long period

[[Page 25211]]

of time to make that a 12-foot channel. It would make a huge 
difference. It hasn't been authorized.
  The Passaic River in New Jersey has a flood control tunnel up there 
that was authorized at $1.2 billion back in 1990. That wasn't last year 
or the year before. So far, no money has come in there.
  Mr. President, I was disappointed in the way time was handled here. 
Let me make a few comments and then perhaps see if anybody else comes 
down who needs to be heard.
  Right now, let me first redeem myself. We have a lot of people 
talking about this. I know a lot of people are watching, saying we are 
going to find out who the conservatives are. There are a lot of ``born-
again'' conservatives I have heard so far, who are not conservative but 
are opposing an authorization bill. I say that, redeeming myself, in 
that--every organization, including Human Events and the American 
Conservative Union, says I am not No. 2 or No. 3, Mr. President, I am 
No. 1. Did you know that I am the No. 1 most conservative Member of the 
Senate?
  I am here to tell you something that is very unpopular because nobody 
is going to understand it after I explain it to you. I will get right 
into it. I am going to tell you what authorization is. I hope some 
Members are listening, but I fear they are not. I think minds are made 
up. By the way, this bill will pass by an overwhelming majority. No 
question about that. In a way, we are wasting a lot of time right now. 
But I think it is important that at least somebody says something that 
has to be said: What is authorization all about?
  The background of authorization goes all the way back to 1816. In 
1816, our permanent committees were put together. We didn't have 
committees prior to that. So the responsibilities of authorizing and 
appropriating were put into these 11 committees in accordance with 
jurisdiction.
  By 1867, 51 years later, the Senate created the Appropriations 
Committee. The Appropriations Committee had the idea that there was to 
be separate authorizing language with the appropriations. They were 
going to actually spend the money. Somebody else was going to do the 
authorization.
  In 1899, it was seen that they had kind of moved together, so the 
Appropriations Committee was actually legislating on appropriation 
bills.
  In 1922, a major change took place. In 1922, after the Accounting Act 
of 1921, the Senate changed the rules. They established not only that 
the Senators were going to be appropriating and not authorizing on the 
appropriations bills, but that is when the current rule XVI came into 
effect. It had been there for a different purpose. Rule XVI says if the 
appropriators appropriate something that is not authorized, it is going 
to take a 60-vote point of order. That is huge. That was very clear in 
1922. They said we want to make it virtually impossible for the 
appropriators, without going through any authorization, to unilaterally 
say we ought to have all these projects; we don't care if they are 
worthwhile or not. That is what happened.
  Then, slowly, since that time it has been going back to the 
appropriators getting more and more power. They have been diminishing 
the power of the authorizers.
  Put up the military chart.
  I am on another committee.
  Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 12 minutes 30 seconds remaining.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, the Armed Services Committee is an 
authorization committee. Let me tell you why the process of authorizing 
is important. I could use almost any example I want to, but I will use 
missile defense.
  Right now, there are very few people around since 9/11 who don't know 
that there are monsters out there who will send a missile into the 
United States. We now have a missile defense system we are still 
developing. There are three phases: the boost phase, the midcourse 
phase, and the terminal phase.
  In the boost phase, quite frankly, we do not have anything that will 
knock down a missile. We are working on two systems: one, a kinetic 
energy booster, and the other is an airborne laser system. The airborne 
laser system is going to be great for us, but we are not there yet.
  Midcourse--we all have heard about the AEGIS system. I believe there 
are 16 AEGIS ships right now. They have the capability of knocking down 
a missile during the midcourse phase. We also have ground-based 
systems. We know we need this redundancy because we don't know from 
where these missiles are going to be fired. We all know the President 
has been trying to get a location in Eastern Europe and up around the 
old Soviet Union, and it has been very difficult. What we ultimately 
have to have is a way of knocking these missiles down from anyplace in 
midcourse. We have two systems. An appropriator might look at that and 
say: I know where we can save money. We don't need two midcourse 
systems; one is enough. But that is not right because the expertise in 
the authorizing committees says we have to have that coverage.
  Lastly, the terminal phase. We know about the THAAD system, the PAC-
3, the Patriot Capability-3 advanced system. One may say they are 
redundant, but they are not.
  Here is the point I am trying to make. The reason we know, in the 
Senate Armed Services Committee, it is important we have these systems 
is because we are staffed with a lot of really smart people. They are 
specialists in this area of national defense. I could have used the F-
22 versus the F-35 or any other system we have, but the point is that 
the Armed Services Committee is an authorizing committee which is 
staffed with experts. So is the Environment and Public Works Committee. 
We have people who are experts in certain areas. The committee 
authorizes projects for the future.
  If we take away the Senate Armed Services Committee and the committee 
is no longer able to authorize, then we are going to have appropriators 
sitting around waiting for somebody to come up with what they want. 
Maybe it is a contractor they know who has a system and they will go 
ahead and use that system, but they wouldn't have the expertise.
  I am not bashing appropriators. That is a very important part of the 
process. But they have to have some kind of a discipline in their 
spending. There is no discipline.
  Let me mention something else that would be very unpopular. I said 
this on the floor during the Transportation reauthorization bill, 
which, at the time the Republicans were in the majority, I chaired the 
committee Senator Boxer now chairs. At that time, a lot of people were 
trying to latch on to items that were wrong so they could use them to 
demagog. Remember the famous bridge to nowhere? Actually, it would have 
been more accurate to say it is a bridge to nobody because the bridge 
actually went someplace where they couldn't get except by barge traffic 
and they could never develop that area.
  One of the few things that works well in Government, in my 
estimation, is the way we do the Transportation reauthorization. 
Everyone pays at the pump, and then the money comes into the highway 
trust fund. Then we establish criteria.
  Senator Boxer will remember that we had some 30 criteria we used with 
the Transportation reauthorization bill. One of the criteria was, What 
do the people at home want? In the case of the bridge to nowhere, the 
100 projects the State of Alaska said they wanted to do with their tax 
dollars, it was No. 5 from the top. We, in our infinite wisdom in 
Washington, say we are smarter than the dumb people out in the States. 
We said: Even though this is what you want or have to have, you can't 
have it because we have this infinite wisdom in Washington.
  I use these examples only because the authorizing system does work. 
We are supposed to pass this water resources development 
reauthorization every 2 years. If we had done that every 2 years, we 
would not be faced with what we are faced today. We would not be 
looking at $21 billion. It averages out about $3 billion, if my math 
serves me

[[Page 25212]]

correctly. We tried to get a bill in 2002, and we were not able to do 
it. We tried in 2004, and we were not able to do it. We tried in 2006, 
and that didn't work, either. In fact, we did our job; we just ran out 
of time, as I recall. Now it is 2007. If we don't do it this time, it 
is going to be another year, and it is going to mean the appropriators 
are going to go ahead and do these projects without going through the 
right authorizing process.
  I have to say it, and I say it in all sincerity to my good 
conservative friends: This is not money we are spending; it is 
authorizing projects as to what meets certain criteria. If we look at 
some of the problems we are having right now--Hurricane Katrina, that 
was not foreseen and that was a wake-up call. It could happen anywhere. 
It was an infrastructure need. The collapse of the bridge in 
Minneapolis, that was a bridge on an interstate. In Oklahoma, on I-40, 
we have a bridge built with the same technology at the same time, and 
right now chunks of concrete are dropping off that bridge and falling 
down below. We have, in my State of Oklahoma, the worst bridge 
situation. I am not proud of this fact, but it is true. We have more 
deteriorating bridges than any other State. These are projects we need 
to be doing.
  I am ranked as the No. 1 most conservative politician, but I have 
always been a big spender in two areas: One, defend America--we need to 
defend America; no one else is going to do that for us--and No. 2, 
infrastructure. That is what we have talked about today.
  We went through the long, involved Transportation reauthorization. 
Mr. President, I am embarrassed to tell you, as sizable as that 
Transportation reauthorization bill was, if we were able to spend all 
the money that was authorized, it would not even maintain the current 
system we have today.
  Let me mention one other point. Where were my conservative friends in 
2000 when we passed this huge, open-ended bill called the Everglades 
Restoration Act? It didn't have any Corps of Engineers report. It did 
not have a Chief's report. It was open-ended, and the vote was 99 to 1. 
Guess who the one was. It was me. Where were my conservative friends at 
that time? That was huge.
  In retrospect, I was right and the other 99 were wrong. They might 
argue with me on that point. But, nonetheless, in the current bill, 
there are now some reports in the Everglades, so we are doing it the 
right way with this bill.
  I reserve the remainder of my time in case somebody else wishes to 
speak, but I have to say, in case I run out of time, I have a letter 
from the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works, Secretary 
Woodley, and the arguments they use as to why they would recommend the 
President veto this bill are not right.
  Frankly, I am really disappointed. If we are going to pass this 
bill--and it is going to be passed by a veto-proof margin--if the 
President vetoes it, he knows it is going to be overridden, and I have 
to question why he would veto it. Again, we are reauthorizing. We are 
not appropriating one nickel with this bill.
  I retain the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I yield 6 minutes to Senator Landrieu of 
Louisiana.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wish to follow up on the comments of 
the good Senator from Oklahoma, who I believe made some very 
appropriate and strong arguments for this bill.
  There are some reasons to vote against the bill, I guess, but I 
wouldn't say one of them is because you are a conservative. The Senator 
from Oklahoma is absolutely correct, this is a conservative approach to 
infrastructure. This is the right approach. This is about investments. 
Whether one is representing the State of California, which tends to be 
sometimes more liberal on issues, or representing a State such as 
Oklahoma, which tends to be more conservative, this is the right vote.
  My colleagues can vote against this bill because they don't think it 
has enough Corps reforms. Senator Feingold's position, although I 
disagree with it, is a legitimate position. He just believes the Corps 
should have more reforms. Actually, I agree with a lot of what he says. 
But we couldn't get a majority of Senators to go along with his 
proposal. We had to drop it or sacrifice the whole bill. I did not 
think it was worth sacrificing the whole bill. We have some reforms, 
and I am committed and others are committed to continuing to work to 
reform the Corps, to streamline the Corps, to force them to stop 
wasting so much money and time. I am committed to do that in the 
future.
  But right now, we have wetlands to save and levees to build. The 
Senator from Oklahoma is exactly correct. This is a chart that shows 
the civil works as a percentage of the gross domestic product since 
1929. There is a crisis in America. We are down below half a percentage 
point relative to gross domestic product. We are spending less today 
than we did in 1929.
  I know nobody believes this information, but this is not a chart that 
came from Mary Landrieu's office; this is a chart from the Corps of 
Engineers.
  We can see in the runup to the wars, World War I and World War II, 
how this bolted up because we had to make some of these investments. 
But look at the precipitous slide, Mr. President. I say this because 
the Senator is correct. The National Chamber of Commerce--not a bastion 
of liberalism--is supporting this bill. The Manufacturers of America--
not a bastion of liberalism--sent out a letter supporting this bill. 
Why? Because business cannot operate without ports and navigation and 
flood control. Agriculture cannot operate if every year their fields 
get flooded.
  I don't know how to explain this anymore. This is not porkbarrel, 
runaway spending. This is critical investments, and it has been 7 years 
since this bill has passed.
  Senator Boxer didn't run up a big tab. She has worked her heart out 
with Senator Inhofe to get a bill passed in 7 months that should have 
passed 7 years ago.
  As to the argument from the good Senator from South Carolina--and I 
know somebody has to come to the floor and read talking points from 
some organization about this bill, but I wish to say something about 
South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas. This chart shows the 
hurricanes that have hit since 1955. I don't know how many more 
Katrinas, I don't know how many more Ritas, I don't know how many more 
Hugos we need. But these are the tracks of the storms. We have 300 
million people who live in the United States. I am just going to take a 
wild guess that 50 percent of them live in the Northeast and the South 
because I know the interior West is very lightly populated, so I would 
imagine the gravity of the population is where we are looking now.
  How many more storms have to hit before we pass a water bill? How 
many more homes have to be flooded? We lost 275,000 in Louisiana and 
Mississippi last year. Two years ago today, Rita slammed into south 
Louisiana and east Texas. I focus so much on my State, and, of course, 
I represent Louisiana, but I picked up the Houston Chronicle this 
morning, front page, big headline: People in south Texas still waiting 
for help from the Federal Government for homes destroyed 2 years ago.
  This bill is not going to solve every problem. It is not going to 
build every levee. But we better get about raising this chart up a 
little bit or I don't know what our manufacturers and businesses are 
going to do. You can buy anything you want on the Internet, but every 
now and then you have to ship it. You can purchase it with a mouse 
click, but that product has to get on a ship, it has to get on a truck, 
it has to get on a barge. It has to go somewhere. If we don't start 
building levees and protecting our people from these storms--and Lord 
help us if there is another terrorist attack--I just don't know what we 
are going to do. So there is some urgency about this situation.

[[Page 25213]]

  I will say in my final minutes that I hope the President will not 
veto this bill. I hope he will reconsider his position and look at the 
vote, the overwhelming vote in the House--and I think we are going to 
have an overwhelming vote in the Senate--and say: I thought about 
vetoing this bill, but I decided not to because the arguments have been 
good.
  Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent for 30 more seconds.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. So I hope the President will reconsider this number, 
the lowest investment since 1929. I hope he will look at the hurricane 
maps, and then I hope he will look at the land loss in Louisiana.
  I would like to just end with this. We have lost more than twice the 
amount of land in just the last storm--these red dots represent 
significant land loss--that if an enemy came and took this land away 
from us, we would declare World War III. But it is not an enemy, it is 
ourselves.
  So let us pass the WRDA bill.
  I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their extraordinary 
leadership. There are many good reasons to pass this bill, and I hope 
we can get a good vote in just a few minutes.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the conference report 
on the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. The bill that is before 
us today contains key Corps reform measures. It helps move America 
forward in addressing a lengthy backlog of critical water 
infrastructure projects, and it authorizes essential ecosystem 
restoration efforts.
  This bill contains a number of provisions that are vital to 
Maryland--from Cumberland in western Maryland to the great cities of 
Baltimore and Washington and down to tiny Smith Island, which sits in 
the Chesapeake Bay.
  Like so many other projects contained in this bill, the Cumberland 
effort will have multiple benefits. Increased public safety will come 
from the flood control provisions. The project also serves historic and 
community restoration efforts, including the rewatering of the National 
Park Service's Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the reconstruction of the 
historic turning basin there.
  For the first time, the Army Corps will supplement the Environmental 
Protection Agency's effort to repair and improve wastewater treatment 
facilities to benefit the Chesapeake Bay. The Corps will be able to 
support sewage treatment upgrades such as the one at Blue Plains, which 
serves customers in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and 
Maryland.
  The new EPA permit for Blue Plains requires that the nitrogen load 
from the plant be reduced by more than 4 million pounds annually. This 
will be the largest single nitrogen reduction project in the bay 
watershed in a decade.
  The Port of Baltimore is one of the largest ports on the east coast. 
It is a vital engine of economic activity, contributing $2 billion to 
the State's economy and employing 18,000 Marylanders directly and tens 
of thousands more indirectly. WRDA 2007 extends the authorization for 
the 50-foot dredging of the Baltimore Harbor and Channels. The dredging 
that is authorized in this bill is essential to the economy of 
Baltimore and the entire region. But it produces millions of tons of 
dredge materials annually. In this bill, that sediment is being put to 
beneficial reuse. The Corps is literally rebuilding an island in the 
Chesapeake.
  Poplar Island once was home to residents and hunting lodges. It had 
nearly vanished, the victim of rising sea level and unrelenting 
erosion. Since this project's authorization in 1996, however, the Corps 
has restored over 1,100 acres of remote island habitat. Poplar Island 
has risen, phoenix-like, from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Five 
hundred and seventy acres of upland habitat and an additional 570 acres 
of wetland habitat are being created.
  Today, even as the project continues, the island is once again home 
to migratory shore birds, mammals, and reptiles. It even serves as a 
nesting area for Maryland's famous terrapins. The expansion of 
authorized in the bill will build upon this success. It will add an 
additional 575 acres, about half upland and half wetlands, to the 
restored island.
  The Poplar Island expansion project authorized in this bill is 
important to the Port of Baltimore and to the ecological health of the 
Chesapeake Bay. But it is also a model for the Nation, showing us how 
Corps projects can be engines of economic success while at the same 
time serving beneficial ecological functions.
  Smith Island is a remote inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay on 
the Maryland-Virginia border. It has lost over 3,300 acres of wetlands, 
threatening the people who live there and degrading the Chesapeake Bay 
in the process. This bill authorizes the construction of 2 miles of 
breakwaters to protect over 2,100 acres of wetlands and underwater 
grass beds.
  WRDA 2007 is unlike any earlier WRDA bill. It contains Corps reform 
measures, ecological restoration projects, and environmental 
infrastructure projects. These provisions represent the future of the 
Corps of Engineers. It is the reason I support this legislation. I urge 
my colleagues to join me.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I believe that the passage of this bill 
is long overdue and I commend Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe for 
their efforts to pass this bill.
  There are numerous projects in this bill that are important to each 
state. I would like to take a few moments and highlight what this bill 
means to New Mexico and our environment.
  I would like to point out that the New Mexico related projects in 
this bill were included, at my request, in the WRDA bill we passed in 
2006. So the content in this bill should not be a surprise to any of us 
and I hope that we can get this bill signed by the President quickly.
  One of the most critical New Mexico projects contained in this year's 
WRDA bill involves New Mexico's Bosque. I have long envisioned the 
rehabilitation and restoration of the Bosque. In fact, I have 
introduced legislation in this Congress that would do just that. This 
bill will allow us to implement this vision that concerns this long 
neglected treasure of the Southwest.
  The Albuquerque metropolitan area is the largest concentration of 
people in New Mexico. It is also the home to the irreplaceable riparian 
forest which runs through the heart of the city and surrounding towns 
that is the Bosque. It is the largest continuous cottonwood forest in 
the Southwest, and one of the last of its kind in the world.
  Unfortunately, mismanagement, neglect, and the effects of upstream 
development have severely degraded the Bosque. As a result, public 
access is problematical and crucial habitat for scores of species is 
threatened.
  Yet the Middle Rio Grande Bosque remains one of the most biologically 
diverse ecosystems in the Southwest. My goal is to restore the Bosque 
and create a space that is open and attractive to the public. I want to 
ensure that this extraordinary corridor of the Southwestern desert is 
preserved for generations to come--not only for generations of humans, 
but for the diverse plant and animal species that reside in the Bosque 
as well.
  The rehabilitation of this ecosystem leads to greater protection for 
threatened and endangered species; it means more migratory birds, 
healthier habitat for fish, and greater numbers of towering cottonwood 
trees. This project can increase the quality of life for a city while 
assuring the health and stability of an entire ecosystem. Where trash 
is now strewn, paths and trails will run. Where jetty jacks and 
discarded rubble lie, cottonwoods will grow. The dead trees and 
underbrush that threaten devastating fire will be replaced by healthy 
groves of trees. Schoolchildren will be able to study and maybe catch 
sight of a bald eagle. The chance to help build a dynamic public space 
like this does not come around often, and I would like to see Congress 
embrace that chance on this occasion.
  Having grown up along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, the Bosque is 
something I treasure, and I lament the

[[Page 25214]]

degradation that has occurred. Because of this, I have been involved in 
Bosque restoration since 1991, and I commend the efforts of groups like 
the Bosque Coalition for the work they have done, and will continue to 
do, along the river.
  Another project that is of great importance to New Mexico is the 
Southwest Valley Flood Control Project. New Mexico is a desert State 
prone to flash flooding during our monsoon season. In order to protect 
our cities we must take proactive steps to ensure that communities are 
prepared in the event of flooding. The Southwest Valley is one such 
area that is subject to flooding from rainfall runoff. Due to 
unfavorable topography, flood waters pond in low lying developed areas 
and cannot drain by gravity flow to the Rio Grande River. This project 
resolves this problem and calls for the construction of detention 
basins and a pumping station in Albuquerque for flood control in the 
Southwest Valley.
  This legislation also has a significant impact on our environment. 
The Rio Grande Environmental Management Program authorizes the Corps to 
address environmental restoration and management on the Rio Grande and 
its tributaries through planning, design and construction of habitat 
rehabilitation and enhancement projects and a long term river data 
acquisition and management program. This simple provision establishes a 
continuing authority for addressing environmental restoration and 
management on the Rio Grande and its tributaries within the state of 
New Mexico. This project consists of two main components. The first 
component consists of planning, design and construction of small 
habitat rehabilitation and enhancement projects and the second 
component calls for a long term river data acquisition and management 
program. The impacts that this project will have on New Mexico will be 
tremendous.
  Another program outlined in this year's WRDA bill provides authority 
to the Corps to study, adopt, and construct emergency streambank and 
shoreline protection works for protection of public highways and 
bridges, and other public works, and nonprofit public services such as 
churches, hospitals, and schools. This program provides authority for 
the Corps to carry out ecosystem restoration and protection projects if 
the project will improve environmental quality, is in the public 
interest, and is cost effective. This is a worthy initiative that will 
benefit the environment throughout the United States.
  I urge my fellow Senators to help further enhance and protect our 
environment through passage of this legislation. I believe that each 
State stands to benefit from this bill.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am proud to support this legislation 
today, which is so important for our Nation's water infrastructure. We 
need to repair and upgrade our waterways because so many of our 
businesses--and millions of jobs--depend on them. The bill would also 
help restore aquatic ecosystems and habitats, and it includes several 
provisions that are important for Michigan and the Great Lakes.
  I wish to express my thanks to the chair and ranking member of the 
Environment and Public Works Committee, Senators Boxer and Inhofe, for 
their work on this bill. I also want to thank them for including a 
number of important provisions for the Great Lakes, one of the world's 
greatest natural resources. The Michigan and Great Lakes projects that 
I had requested, and which were included in the Senate bill, were 
retained in the conference report. Additionally, other important 
projects included in the House WRDA bill that I asked to be included in 
the conference report were retained.
  I am also pleased that a provision that I added as an amendment to 
the Senate WRDA bill was retained in the conference report. This 
provision would expedite the operation and maintenance, including 
dredging, of the Great Lakes commercial navigation channels and 
infrastructure. This is a key provision because the Great Lakes are in 
the midst of a crisis: Freighters are getting stuck in shipping 
channels, other ships are carrying reduced loads, and some shipments 
have simply ceased altogether. This WRDA provision would work to 
address the very serious dredging backlog in the Great Lakes, which has 
been exacerbated by historically low water levels. I am also thankful 
that the bill includes a Sense of the Congress that states that the 
Corps' budget for dredging should be developed by using all available 
economic data rather than focusing on a single metric such as the 
amount of cargo being moved. I worked with the Senate bill managers to 
address this problem when WRDA was being debated on the Senate floor. 
At that time, the bill managers agreed to work with me to address this 
problem in the conference committee, and indeed they did. And for that, 
I am grateful.
  Also of vital importance for the Great Lakes navigation system is a 
provision in the conference report that modifies the authorization to 
construct a second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, so that it will 
be constructed at full Federal expense for a total cost of 
$341,714,000. Two-thirds of the carrying capacity of the U.S. Great 
Lakes fleet is currently limited to the one large lock, the Poe lock. 
If the Poe lock should fail, shipping between Lake Superior and Lake 
Huron would essentially cease, and the steel industry, coal-reliant 
industries, and agricultural industries dependent on farm exports would 
be severely harmed. This authorization to waive the non-Federal cost-
share requirement is an important step for ensuring the viability of 
the Great Lakes shipping infrastructure.
  Another important provision for the health of the Great Lakes that 
was retained in the bill is a provision that authorizes the completion 
of the dispersal barrier to prevent invasive species, such as the Asian 
carp, from moving between the Mississippi River watershed and the Great 
Lakes. Further, the bill directs the Corps to operate both barriers I 
and II at full Federal expense and provides credit to those States that 
provided funds to begin construction of barrier II. The bill also 
directs the Corps to conduct a feasibility study on other ways to 
prevent the spread of invasives between the Great Lakes and Mississippi 
River.
  The bill also retains a Senate WRDA provision that I have been 
working on for many years: the improvement of Michigan's water and 
sewage infrastructure. An authorization of $35 million is included in 
the WRDA conference report for a statewide environmental infrastructure 
project to correct combined sewer overflows, which is a major source of 
pollution in the Great Lakes and other waterbodies in Michigan. 
Combined sewer overflows carry both stormwater and sewage, and these 
can be discharged into streams, rivers, and lakes during periods of 
heavy rains. The $35 million provision in WRDA authorizes the Army 
Corps to partner with communities throughout Michigan to improve their 
sewer infrastructure. These improvements would not only benefit 
communities but would also help protect our precious water resources.
  As the recent tragic collapse of a Minnesota bridge has made all too 
clear, the repair and modernization of this Nation's infrastructure 
needs to be a much higher priority. Just as roads and bridges need 
urgent repairs, we cannot wait further for authorizing important water 
projects that protect lives and property, support commerce and 
industry, and preserve and restore our environmental resources. We have 
waited 7 years for this bill. Now is the time to pass this bill, and it 
should not be held up by a Presidential veto, which I am confident the 
Congress would override.
  While these important provisions, as well as several others that I 
have not mentioned, provide the authorization for addressing the 
dredging backlog in the Great Lakes, restoring the environmental 
integrity of our waters, and providing critical flood protection 
projects, the appropriations needed to make these provisions a reality 
are down the road. The next critical step is to appropriate the actual 
funding for these necessary projects.
 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I would like to express my strong 
opposition to the conference report on the Water Resources Development 
Act of 2007. The

[[Page 25215]]

legislation being considered today far exceeds the already outrageous 
spending that was approved in both the House- and Senate-passed bills 
and would drastically increase the backlog of Army Corps of Engineers 
construction projects while doing nothing to modernize the system for 
funding these projects. I wonder, did we learn nothing from Hurricane 
Katrina?
  In August of 2005, this Nation witnessed a horrible national 
disaster. When Hurricane Katrina hit, it brought with it destruction 
and tragedy beyond compare, more so than our Nation had seen in 
decades. Almost 2 years later, the gulf coast region is still trying to 
rebuild, and there is a long road ahead. I thought that we had learned 
a few lessons from this tragedy, but as our Nation continues to 
dedicate significant resources to the reconstruction effort, we are now 
being asked to quickly approve a conference report that only 
perpetuates the problems with both the funding and management of the 
Corps of Engineers.
  During Senate consideration of this bill, Senator Feingold offered an 
amendment that I was pleased to cosponsor that would have established a 
system to give clarity to the process used for funding Corps projects. 
Of course, that amendment was not adopted. It is unacceptable to me 
that this Congress isn't interested in how best to allocate our limited 
Corps resources or how taxpayer dollars would be used most effectively. 
My question is, What is wrong with having some concept of what our 
Nation's priorities are for waterworks projects? Why are we rejecting 
policies to help us identify where the greatest infrastructure needs 
are? Are people worried that showing the American people how their 
money is really being spent may result in their pet project being moved 
down the list for funding?
  Today's practice, as illustrated again by this legislation, allows a 
Member of Congress to get a project authorized and funded without 
having any idea of how that project affects the overall infrastructure 
of our Nation's waterways--or whether it is even needed. There is 
already a $58 billion backlog in Corps projects, and the bill before us 
increases that backlog by an additional $23.2 billion according to the 
Congressional Budget Office. That is a 40-percent increase in the size 
of the existing backlog. Yet consider how much funding the Corps 
receives annually on average--$2 billion. Anyone can do the math and 
realize that we are perpetuating a significant problem. But that won't 
stop so many of my colleagues from congratulating themselves on passage 
of this bill--a bill the White House intends to veto.
  I find it particularly ironic that just before the August recess this 
body claimed to be turning a new page and taking significant steps 
toward ending the process of secret earmarks and porkbarrel politics 
when it passed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. 
This bill is beyond more of the same with over 900 projects, up from 
600 projects in both the Senate and the House passed bills. As stated 
in a recent letter from the Director of OMB and Assistant Secretary of 
the Army for Civil Works, ``Because the conference version of H.R. 1495 
significantly exceeds the cost of either the House or Senate bill and 
contains other unacceptable provisions discussed below, the President 
will veto the bill.'' I applaud the President's vow to veto this bill.
  While the bill before us today includes an ``independent'' review 
process in name, as Senator Feingold and I have pushed for during 
debate on the last two Senate-passed bills, the conference report 
provision does not promote true independent review at all. Senator 
Feingold and I championed language that would have established a 
process by which the planning and design of Corps projects could be 
reviewed by a panel of experts. As stated by an editorial in the 
Washington Post on August 6, 2007, entitled ``Watered Down,'' ``The 
Corps has a long history of overly rosy environmental and economic 
analysis of such projects, tailored to the political needs of its 
funders in Congress. Review of Corps projects by independent experts 
would deter such behavior, which threatens not only the federal budget 
but public safety. The Senate version of the legislation was very tough 
on this point.'' I will ask to have the editorial printed in the Record 
immediately following my remarks.
  The legislation before us drastically dilutes the Senate-passed 
provision and gives the Corps undue influence over this panel. The 
review process will actually be housed within the Corps rather than 
outside the agency as the Senate bill required, and the Corps' Chief of 
Engineers is also given significant authority to decide the timing of 
review, the projects to be reviewed, and whether to implement a review 
panel's recommendations. This new system will only compound the 
problems with an agency that has brought about countless mismanaged and 
incredibly expensive construction and maintenance projects.
  I believe this conference report is fundamentally flawed in many 
ways, not the least of which is its cost. As stated by the Tax Payers 
for Common Sense, ``In High School Civics students learn that 
conference committees are where lawmakers hash out the differences 
between House and Senate bills. But in the case of WRDA (H.R. 1495), 
the Corps of Engineers water projects bill, a $14 billion Senate bill 
met a $15 billion house and ballooned into a whopping $21 billion 
monster. . . . The ultimate price tag will be far higher because of 
numerous policy changes that are intended to shift costs from who 
benefits onto the federal taxpayer. For these reasons, the President 
did the right thing by promising to veto the bill if it gets to his 
desk. . . . Lawmakers should start over again and come back with a 
fiscally responsible bill that includes stronger policy reforms for 
independent peer review of costly, controversial, or critical projects, 
modernized economic guidance and creates a system to prioritize limited 
federal funding. All these proposals will save taxpayers in the long 
term.''
  Mr. President, it is time that we end this process of blind spending, 
throwing money at projects that may or may not benefit the larger good. 
It is time for us to take a post-Katrina look at the world and learn 
from our experiences over the past years instead of being content with 
business as usual. Shouldn't we be doing all that we can to reform the 
Corps and ensure that the most urgent projects are being funded and 
constructed? Or are we more content with needless earmarks--too often 
at the expense of projects that are of most need?
  I urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report.
  Mr. President, I ask to have the editorial to which I referred 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows.

                [From the Washington Post, Aug. 6, 2007]

                              Watered Down


Another pork-laden bill for the Army Corps of Engineers contains modest 
                       checks on future projects

       When Last we checked, the Water Resources Development Act 
     was a $14 billion bill larded with pork-barrel projects. Now 
     it is a $21 billion bill, having taken on still more pork in 
     a House-Senate conference committee, and it appears headed 
     for passage. One small factor in the bill's growth was the 
     addition, during the closed-door conference, of tens of 
     millions of dollars' worth of pet projects not previously 
     debated in either chamber. Interestingly enough, Congress has 
     also just passed an ethics bill that was arguably designed, 
     in part, to prevent this sort of thing. But that legislation 
     has not yet taken effect.
       Of greater concern are the bill's provisions for 
     independent review of proposed dams, levees and other 
     projects to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 
     Corps has a long history of overly rosy environmental and 
     economic analysis of such projects, tailored to the political 
     needs of its funders in Congress. Review of Corps projects by 
     independent experts would deter such behavior, which 
     threatens not only the federal budget but public safety.
       The Senate version of the legislation was very tough on 
     this point. It would have required peer review of projects 
     costing $40 million or more and permitted state governors, 
     federal agencies and the general public to initiate mandatory 
     peer reviews of other projects. It would have created a 
     separate federal office to oversee the reviews, and it stated 
     explicitly that federal courts did not have to defer to the 
     Corps' reasoning when the agency decided to reject the 
     findings of an independent panel. But, after negotiations 
     between the Senate and the

[[Page 25216]]

     House, which favored a nearly toothless process, the final 
     bill leaves out much of the Senate language: It raises the 
     minimum dollar amount slightly, to $45 million, and says that 
     only governors, not federal agencies or public interest 
     groups, can call for mandatory peer review. The Corps can 
     waive review of smaller projects where it sees no 
     environmental issues. Inexplicably, the peer review law 
     expires in seven years.
       The good news is that the bill requires the Corps to assign 
     the reviews to the respected National Academy of Sciences; it 
     also wisely permits reviewers to consider a wide range of 
     issues. President Bush has understandably threatened a veto 
     because of the bill's cost, but there are more than enough 
     votes to override. Imperfect as it is, this bill is likely to 
     become law. Supporters of the compromise, such as Sen. 
     Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Environment and 
     Public Works Committee, say that their tough oversight will 
     make it work, a promise that will itself be tested in the 
     months ahead.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, the explanation of managers accompanying 
the bill today is not as expansive as it could have been in regard to 
some sections of the bill. To ensure that my intent, and the intent of 
the remainder of the conferees, is clear I want to provide additional 
direction.
  Section 1001(24) authorizes the remaining features of the Morganza to 
the Gulf hurricane protection project. It is important to note that the 
House, Senate, and conferees recognized the importance of advancing 
this project beyond the initial authorization of segment J-1 and the 
additional funding and authorization provided in Public Law 109-148 and 
Public Law 109-234, with the full understanding of concerns raised 
regarding the potential impact of the project on wetlands--including 
those raised in the administration's Statement of Administration Policy 
related to this bill. The conferees believe that existing law, 
including section 902 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 
and section 7005 of this bill, provides more than sufficient 
flexibility to make any modifications deemed necessary and, subject to 
the availability of appropriations, expect the project to move 
immediately to the construction phase.
  The conferees recognize that the Morganza to the Gulf project was 
initiated in 1992. Congress authorized the full project in the Water 
Resources Development Act of 2000, Public Law 106-541, but Corps of 
Engineers' delays resulted in the failure of the command to meet the 
statutory deadline required to implement the project. The 15 years it 
has taken to reach this point have left Terrebonne Parish and portions 
of Lafourche Parish very vulnerable to storm surge, hurricane and flood 
damage, and the loss of life and property. The Federal Emergency 
Management Agency has expended well over $100 million in public and 
private assistance grants in recent years in response to damages that 
would have been prevented had the project been in place.
  The conferees understood that modifications to the Morganza project 
may be required. These include but are not limited to changes related 
to wetlands, IPET recommendations, and other factors. The conferees 
also understand that significant cost increases from the initial 
estimates were included in the 2002 and 2003 reports of the chief. 
These increases are related to significant rises in labor and materials 
costs as a result of activities responding to Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita and attributable to new standards for storm damage reduction and 
flood control projects related to IPET recommendations. The conferees 
did not increase the project authorization due to the fact that section 
902 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 specifically 
provides for cost increases related to ``changes in construction cost 
applied to unconstructed features'' and for increases related to 
``mitigation and other environmental actions''.
  As was mandated by Congress in the past, the Secretary shall make the 
Houma Lock a top priority and expedite this feature, in addition to 
other features that will provide important protection to vulnerable 
areas. The Secretary should consider integrating the construction of 
the Houma Lock with modifications of the feature authorized in section 
7006(e)(3)(A)(i), only if the integration will not cause delays to this 
feature.
  Should significant additional features or increases in protection 
levels be warranted, the Secretary should consider the implementation 
of these improvements under section 211 of the Water Resources 
Development Act of 1996. It is noted that the Army did not notify 
Congress of any additional authorization needs for this project. It is 
the conferees' intent that this project move forward as soon as 
possible with no further congressional authorization. Delays in 
protection for this area cannot continue.
  Section 1001(25) authorizes the Port of Iberia access improvement and 
Vermilion parish storm surge protection project. It is the intent that 
the Corps provide meaningful storm protection to Vermilion Parish in an 
expedited manner without delays to the deepening project.
  Section 1004(a)(7) directs the Army Corps of Engineers to study and 
carry out a project to dredge and maintain the Napoleon Avenue 
Container Terminal berthing area in the Port of New Orleans at a depth 
not to exceed the authorized channel depth of the Mississippi River 
ship channel. Deepening of that berthing area will ensure that the full 
transportation benefits of the authorized channel depth of the 
Mississippi River ship channel will be realized by the adjacent port 
terminal. This small navigation enhancement project will create 
significant economic and business benefits for the port, and aid in the 
continuing recovery of the greater New Orleans area.
  Section 3081 authorizes the Corps of Engineers to credit the State of 
Louisiana for cost associated with mitigating the impact of freshwater 
diversions on oyster beds. It is the intent that ``relocating'' 
includes any means to remove or relocate the interests in the oyster 
beds from the impact area. In some cases, this may include leaving the 
oyster beds in place. It is the understanding of the conferees that 
oyster beds could serve as a form of protection from further coastal 
land and wetlands loss.
  Section 3082 provides for the relocation of facilities impacted by 
the closure of the Mississippi River gulf outlet through the Department 
of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. The section also 
establishes a loan program for businesses. The conferees specified that 
the loan program is a ``revolving loan''; therefore, nothing in the 
bill restricts the loan authority to $85 million. It is the intent that 
available loan authority be provided to businesses until demand is 
fully met. It is expected that the actual loan authority will far 
exceed the authorized funding level.
  Section 3084 authorizes the Corps to maintain responsibility for 
long-term costs associated with the Algiers Canals Levees portion of 
the Westbank and Vicinity project. Subsection (c) is intended to apply 
only to work performed under the original authorization. Ongoing work 
on the project is based upon authorization and funding provided in the 
various emergency supplemental appropriations acts related to 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The cost share included in subsection (c) 
shall not apply to the work funded in those acts.
  Section 4101 directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct 
a review of disaster debris removal policy related to Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita. It is the intent that the GAO shall coordinate the 
data required to determine the appropriate findings with the 
Environmental Protection Agency and Corps of Engineers. The EPA and 
Corps are expected to fully cooperate with the GAO and should be given 
the opportunity to comment and respond to the GAO's findings as is 
customary with these reports. Should any adverse findings result, it is 
the intent that the appropriate agencies immediately respond to such 
findings.
  Section 5083 directs the Corps to complete the supplemental EIS 
related to the lock project by July 01, 2008. As is clear in the bill 
language, it is expected that this mandate be met. The provision does 
not provide for alternative deadlines or procedures for delay. 
Appropriate planning and schedule compressions should be applied 
immediately.
  Section 5084 clarifies that a previous meeting shall serve as the 
requirement

[[Page 25217]]

for a stakeholders meeting. The effect of this provision is that 
construction grants may be awarded as part of the Lake Pontchartrain 
Basin Program.
  Section 5157(14) authorizes improvements to the Larose to Golden 
Meadow, LA, project by the non-Federal interest to be reimbursed by the 
Secretary. It is intended that these improvements include the 
conversion of the Leon Theriot Floodgate into a lock and improvements 
required to advance protection to, meet or exceed the 100-year level of 
flood protection as determined under the National Flood Insurance 
Program at the time of construction of the improvements. It is expected 
that this authorization will complement the $90 million in improvements 
authorized under section 7015.
  Title VII authorizes 15 coastal protection and restoration projects 
and additional flood protection and storm damage reduction. In the case 
of each project, it is likely that the authority provided by section 
902 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 will be exercised. 
It is noted that this authority provides for cost increases of 20 
percent in addition to those increases attributable to inflation, 
``changes in construction cost applied to unconstructed features'' and 
for other cost increases. It is expected that all deadlines will be met 
and each project will advance in a timely manner.
  Section 7004 establishes a Federal-State task force. The conferees 
intended that the three representatives of the State of Louisiana each 
serve at the pleasure of the Governor of that State.
  Section 7005 authorizes the review and modification of water resource 
projects in the Louisiana coastal area project area to alleviate 
conflicts in project features. The requirement to review ``each'' 
project in the LCA project area should not be construed as a 
requirement to conduct an in depth review of all projects. The 
Secretary, in coordination with the State of Louisiana, is expected to 
identify those projects that are reasonable candidates for modification 
rather than wasting significant resources reviewing all projects in 
detail.
  Section 7006, of the Louisiana Coastal Area Title, title VII, 
authorizes a science and technology program specifically for the 
coastal Louisiana ecosystem. This science and technology program will 
provide the accurate scientific and technological advances needed to 
improve the knowledge of the physical, chemical, geological, 
biological, and cultural baseline conditions in the coastal Louisiana 
ecosystem and related natural and built assets.
  Section 7006 (a)(2)(3) and (4) of title VII of H.R. 1495 already 
provides some of the purposes and direction for carrying out the 
science and technology program. However, since there is no further 
report language clarification in the accompanying conference report 
language, I want to provide further direction, and the conferees 
intent, specifically as it applies to the purposes and organizations 
that should drive this important research program so that the Louisiana 
coastal area projects authorized by this important bill are done right 
the first time.
  It is my firm intent, and that of the conferees, that the science and 
technology program will be conducted through a Louisiana agency-
university-industry partnership led by the Long-term Estuary Assessment 
Group, LEAG, and the Coastal Restoration & Enhancement for Science & 
Technology, CREST, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey 
National Wetlands Research Center. The aim of this alliance is to 
create a cooperative science, engineering, and technology program to 
help policymakers, planners, and coastal resource managers use the 
latest objective information on the built and natural environment to 
ensure sustainable and productive coastal habitats and communities. 
This program should respond directly to the challenges identified by 
the task force and provide proactive solutions for the long-term 
success of the program.
  It is also the conferees intent that the science and technology 
program priority research areas shall also include the following 
efforts and purposes:
  A. Scientific tools for coastal restoration. New tools, or refinement 
of existing tools, for carrying out coastal restoration in coastal 
Louisiana. This area includes evaluation of restoration techniques, 
development of new sensor and monitoring platform technologies, and 
operational approaches that are applicable to both ongoing and planned 
projects in the coastal region of these States.
  B. Human dimensions of coastal restoration efforts. Sociological and 
economic information of direct use to managers and planners involved in 
coastal restoration efforts. This area focuses on projects that can be 
of relevance to coastal habitat which includes but are not limited to 
aspects such as land use, resource use and management, mitigation of 
coastal habitat loss, legal or industrial matters, environmental 
history, socioeconomic and behavioral effects, values to publics, and 
public awareness, sustainable neighborhood plan development, and 
education. This information could also be useful and applicable to 
other regions.
  C. Future perspectives. Concepts and approaches to guide future 
restoration of the Louisiana coastal ecosystem should also be 
considered. This includes field work, workshops, expert panels, reviews 
or syntheses of existing work. Specifically, projects should consider 
sustainable approaches to restoration that take into account future 
changes such as existing and emerging contaminants, degradation of 
coastal habitat resulting from planned human actions or policies, urban 
and natural ecosystem linkages, or the influence of variations in the 
climate system on the coast. Efforts should be regional in scale and of 
direct utility to agencies planning future restoration.
  Southern Louisiana remains severely impacted by or vulnerable to 
coastal erosion, sea level rise, and the loss and degradation of 
natural wetland habitats. This long-term deterioration was exacerbated 
by the 2005 hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, which devastated much of 
Louisiana's coastal regions. Such a combination of factors puts at risk 
the infrastructure of the region and the livelihood of its inhabitants, 
presenting an urgent need for a swift and successful response that will 
restore the natural protective structures in the region and enhance the 
ecology. Successful restoration of any natural ecosystem requires sound 
understanding of the problems and how they developed, as well as 
clearly defined targets for what we expect from the system after 
restoration. Scientific uncertainties and technological inadequacies 
must not limit our ability to respond to the needs of coastal 
communities. Rather, advances in science and technology should be 
integrated directly into restoration programs to ensure that coastal 
habitat restoration is implemented cost-effectively and successfully 
sustains coastal resources.
  Section 7007 (b) directs the Secretary to accept as a non-Federal 
cost share other Federal funds in certain cases. In addition to other 
Federal programs and resources, it is the intent that the provision 
shall clarify any misunderstanding that funds resulting from sections 
383 and 384 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, and 
title I of Division C of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, 
Public Law 109-432 are eligible as a non-Federal match. This statement 
should not be construed as to prejudice any State's ability to use the 
funds specified from the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 as a 
non-Federal match for any program or any other use.
  Section 7012(a) authorizes the modification of the outfall canals on 
Lake Pontchartrain. The conference agreement provides for the 
construction of closure structures on the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue 
and London Avenue canals at or near the lakefront at Lake 
Pontchartrain. It also authorizes the installation of new pumping 
stations associated with the outfall canals. It is the intent of the 
conferees that the Secretary continues ongoing efforts to implement an 
appropriate solution to the outfall canal and pumping challenges which 
would be constructed under this authority. Evacuating

[[Page 25218]]

storm water to the Mississippi River, rather than into the outfall 
canals, should be considered as part of any comprehensive plan 
constructed under this authority.
  The conference agreement also includes bill language that authorizes 
the replacement or modification of non-Federal levees in Plaquemines 
Parish. The conferees urge the Secretary to expedite efforts that will 
supplement or compliment existing Federal protection adjacent to the 
Mississippi River banks associated with the New Orleans to Venice 
project.
  Section 7012(b) clarifies that all work authorized pursuant to 
sections 7012(a)(2) through 7012(a)(9) and Section 7013 shall be 
performed at full Federal expense.
  Section 7013 authorizes the closure and restoration of the 
Mississippi River gulf outlet ecosystem. It is the intent that the full 
restoration of the area be included as part of the program. The 
Secretary should progress with the closure as soon as possible and 
should consider using funds and authorization provided in Public Law 
109-148 and Public Law 109-234 immediately upon enactment of this act.
  Section 7014 requires the Secretary to submit actual project 
recommendations as part of the Louisiana coastal protection and 
restoration analysis and design. Despite several communications, the 
Secretary has continued down a course that is entirely inconsistent 
with congressional intent in regard to this analysis and design. It 
remains very concerning that the Secretary considers expending $20 
million to develop a document that will provide little guidance and not 
advance future protection efforts a wise use of taxpayer funds. 
Further, it is inexcusable that the Congress was forced to include this 
directive in statute to refocus this analysis and design on the intent 
of Congress. The original intent of the authorization was clear that 
Corps was to provide actual project recommendations, design, and a 
technical report. The intentional mismanagement of this effort by the 
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works is concerning, will 
cause delays in protection improvements, and may result in additional 
loss of life and property. Further, it is noteworthy that the statute 
requiring the development of this document placed the requirement upon 
the Chief of Engineers to provide this information to Congress. Yet the 
interim report was signed only by the Assistant Secretary of the Army 
for Civil Works. I commend GEN Carl Strock for the integrity he 
apparently demonstrated in this case.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, although I supported the Senate-passed 
version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, I cannot 
support the conference version of WRDA because it significantly exceeds 
the costs of both the Senate and House-passed bills and includes many 
projects outside the Army Corps of Engineers' traditional 
responsibilities. I am not alone in my opposition. Indeed, the Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget and the Assistant Secretary of 
the Army have indicated to Congress that the President will veto the 
bill in its current form.
  The conference reported version of WRDA would cost approximately $21 
billion, which is about $7 billion more than the Senate and House-
passed versions. The $21 billion ``compromise'' reached in conference 
is not a fiscally responsible bill and, therefore, should not pass.
  The conference version also inappropriately contains many projects 
outside the Corps' primary missions of navigation, flood damage 
reduction, and ecosystem restoration, such as environmental 
infrastructure projects. These environmental infrastructure projects 
divert vital resources away from the Corps' primary responsibilities, 
and add to the backlog of Corps projects. This is especially troubling 
since according to the Congressional Research Service the Corps' 
backlog of authorized projects is currently estimated to be 800 
totaling nearly $38 billion to $60 billion.
  I do recognize that the conference version of WRDA contains a number 
of important projects, some of which are located in my home state of 
Arizona. I would like to thank the Environment and Public Works 
Committee for including many of the projects I requested in the bill. 
It is important to note, however, that because of the backlog of Corps 
projects and concerns relating to WRDA's costs, I limited the requests 
I made. The same cannot be said for the conference version of WRDA. 
Consequently, I cannot support the bill in its current form.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Water 
Resources Development Act of 2007. We have waited a long time for this 
bill, almost 7 years.
  I thank Chairman Boxer and Ranking Member Inhofe for their hard work 
on this legislation and getting this bill through a conference and here 
before us today.
  The bill authorizes navigation, ecosystem restoration, and flood and 
storm damage reduction projects all over the country. Most 
significantly for Illinois, the bill will increase lock capacity and 
improve the ecosystem of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.
  The Mississippi River is the backbone of our waterway transportation 
system and transports $12 billion worth of products each year, 
including over 1 billion bushels of grain to ports around the world. 
This efficient river transportation is vital to Illinois. Shipping via 
barge keeps exports competitive and reduces transportation costs. That 
is good for producers and consumers. More than half of Illinois' annual 
corn crop and 75 percent of all U.S. soybean exports travel via the 
Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.
  There are huge cost and environmental benefits to shipping by barge 
as well. Barges operate at 10 percent of the cost of trucks and 40 
percent of the cost of trains. They release much less carbon monoxide, 
nitrous oxide, and hydrocarbons, and use much less fuel to operate.
  But the system of locks and dams along the Upper Mississippi that 
make travel possible are in desperate need of modernization. The 
current system was built 70 years ago and needs to be updated to 
account for modern barging. Many of the older locks are only 600 feet 
in length, while most current barge tows using the waterway are twice 
as long. That means these goods take twice as long to get down river 
and into the marketplace. The conference report before us today 
authorizes replacing and upgrading many of the locks and dams along the 
Mississippi.
  The legislation authorizes $2.2 billion for replacing and upgrading 
locks and dams and another $1.7 billion for ecosystem restoration along 
the river.
  As we have seen in the tragedy that occurred along Minnesota's 35W 
Bridge, our country's infrastructure is aging and overburdened.
  The projects included in the bill are sorely needed to shore up our 
waterway system, a vital component of our national infrastructure.
  Unfortunately, the President has threatened to veto the WRDA bill. 
This bill is years overdue, and a veto by this Administration will mean 
yet another delay for important projects in Illinois and across the 
country.
  The WRDA conference report passed the House this August by a vote of 
380-40. And when the Senate originally considered the bill earlier this 
year, there were only four dissenting votes.
  The bill will be sent to the President with broad bipartisan support 
from both the House and the Senate, and he should reconsider his threat 
to veto this bill.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill and yield the 
floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mrs. BOXER. Will my friend yield just on the time issue?
  It is my understanding that Senator Feingold has yielded us 20 
minutes, so I ask unanimous consent that Senator Inhofe get an 
additional 10 minutes and I get an additional 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Stabenow). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, let me say to my good friend from 
Louisiana that I do agree with her. I hope

[[Page 25219]]

the President doesn't veto this bill, but whether he does or doesn't, 
it won't make any difference. The outcome is going to be the same. We 
are going to have this bill. But let me give him the assurance that the 
place to start using his veto is when we start spending money in places 
we shouldn't spend money and not on this authorization.
  I am going to make sure everybody understands, even though I have 
made a number of statements here in support of this authorization bill, 
it doesn't mean I am going to support everything on it. There will be 
things, when it comes up to appropriations time, that I will be down 
here leading the opposition and asking the President to veto some of 
these things. But you have to have discipline in some way. There has to 
be some kind of a guideline, some kind of criteria used.
  Let me for a minute talk parochially about my State of Oklahoma. 
These are things that are in here for my State but things that should 
be in here. These are things the Government should be doing.
  Lake Arcadia is a good example. The city of Edmond is the fastest 
growing city in Oklahoma. Because of a set of circumstances, they were 
being billed and have been billed for years now for water they were not 
even using. All that is corrected in here. In the event this bill 
should not pass, those people of the city of Edmond, OK, are going to 
have to come up with money to pay for something they never got.
  Lake Texoma--the same situation. The Red River Chloride Control 
Project in this bill clarifies the operation and maintenance of 
Oklahoma chloride control projects at the Red River. This is critically 
important to our farmers in southern Oklahoma.
  We have Ottawa County's Tar Creek. The most devastating Superfund 
site in America that has been addressed now for 25, 26 years is Tar 
Creek in northern Oklahoma, which goes into southern Kansas, and 
nothing has been done. We have spent millions and millions of dollars, 
until 4\1/2\ years ago, when I became chairman of this committee, with 
the help of the Democrats, Senator Boxer included, we were able to 
actually get in there and do something. We have some of the projects 
that are necessary to ultimately take care of that devastating thing in 
northern Oklahoma.
  Now, I spent several years--three terms--being mayor of a major city 
in Oklahoma--Tulsa, OK. In Tulsa, OK, one of the biggest problems we 
had--and I daresay if you were to talk to any mayor in America they 
would say the same thing--the biggest problem in my city was not 
prostitution or crime in the streets; it was unfunded mandates. So we 
had the Federal Government coming along telling us what to do and 
mandating that certain things be done, and some of my poorer 
communities in Oklahoma were just not able to do it. Let me just give a 
couple of examples.
  All of these towns and cities in Oklahoma I have been in and I have 
seen different things the Federal Government has come in and told them 
to do and not funded them. They are projects in Ada, Norman, Wilburton, 
Weatherford, Bethany, Woodward, Langley, Durant, Midwest City--that 
project in Midwest City is a water infrastructure type of project--
Ardmore, Guymon, OK, out in the panhandle. I was out there during the 
last recess, and they were having a very serious problem with 
wastewater treatment. This would resolve that problem. Altus, OK; 
Chickasha, OK; Goodwell, OK; Bartlesville, Konawa, Mustang, and Alva. 
And when you stop and you think about all these things, these are 
things that--it should not be their responsibility. They do not have 
the capability of doing it. They are all things that came from the 
Federal government. Here I am, the No. 1 most conservative Member, 
saying Government does have a function. The major function I have 
always said is defending America and its infrastructure.
  Let me mention a couple of things, if I could, Madam President.
  I have a letter here from the Department of the Army, the Assistant 
Secretary of Civil Works, which is the Corps of Engineers, and they say 
the Corps already has an enormous backlog of ongoing projects that will 
require future appropriations of some $38 billion. Well, I use that in 
my argument as to why this is necessary. There is a reason for the 
backlog. At the time, they were authorized, but then circumstances 
changed. Some of these projects don't need to be done and will never be 
done.
  By the way, when you talk about the amount of money that is going to 
be authorized, you don't know, first of all, how much of that $21 
billion or $23 billion--maybe half of it--will ultimately be spent. We 
don't know. Some may be spent next year, some 10 years from now. It is 
just authorizing, just saying that at this snapshot in time, these are 
things which need to be done in America, these are legitimate, these 
meet the criteria. So that argument is no good.
  He says that adding excessive new authorizations to this backlog is 
unaffordable and unnecessary. This sentence implies it is inadvisable 
to authorize new projects until all current authorized projects are 
completed, and nothing could be further from the truth. Certainly 
providing adequate hurricane protection in New Orleans is a higher 
priority than some of the already authorized projects, but we didn't 
know it at the time these were authorized. That is why this is 
important.
  It said in this letter that the bill will include numerous 
authorizations that are outside of and inappropriate for the mission of 
the Corps of Engineers, and so forth. Well, the conference report does 
not include authorization of surface transportation projects for the 
Corps of Engineers. That isn't something we do.
  So you look at the arguments they have, and it gets right back to the 
argument that the attack here, as I said, going all the way back to 
1816, is on the authorization process. The only discipline we have in 
spending in this body is to have an authorization process.
  Again, I will repeat, there is going to be some of these that are 
authorized that I would feel in my heart should not be appropriated, 
and I will fight against their appropriation. That is where the battle 
should be fought, and I think it is going to be.
  I don't want to question anyone's sincerity in their opposition, but 
I think there are a lot of people who will go home and have a press 
release saying: I voted against spending some $23 billion. Nothing 
could be further from the truth. You oppose the authorization system 
and you oppose discipline in spending.
  Madam President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, could you tell us how much time remains 
between Senator Inhofe and myself?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma has 6 minutes, and 
the Senator from California has 13 minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, let me say as we wind down that I think 
this committee, of which I am so proud to be the chairman, and I am so 
pleased to work with Senator Inhofe on these infrastructure issues, has 
done its work. I think we have done our job.
  Now, of course, you can always find something that somebody doesn't 
like in a bill, but the fact is, as Senator Inhofe explained with a 
most instructive set of charts--and I thank him so much for going back 
through the history of the difference between appropriations and 
authorizations--this is an important step and a necessary step in the 
process but by no means the last step.
  He talked about the appropriations process, and I talked about the 
process now that Senator Feingold and Senator McCain got added to this 
bill. Although they are still not happy with everything we have done, 
it creates an independent review. So we will have independent review, 
we will have appropriations. Therefore, this is a very necessary first 
step after these projects have come up really from our constituents, 
from our homeowners, from our city councils, from our boards of 
supervisors, from our mayors and governors, et cetera. So I believe we 
have put together a bill that meets our communities' needs, and I think 
we have done it in the very best way we can. We have complied with the 
new ethics rules.

[[Page 25220]]

  By the way, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a 
letter dated today from Majority Leader Reid and the Rules Committee 
chair, Senator Feinstein, replying to Senator DeMint on the issue of 
whether the Senate rule XLIV point of order applies to authorization 
bills.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                Office of the Majority Leader,

                               Washington, DC, September 24, 2007.
     Sen. Jim DeMint,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator DeMint: Thank you for your letter last 
     Thursday regarding the earmark reform provisions in Public 
     Law 110-81, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 
     2007. This law, which passed the House by a vote of 411-8 and 
     the Senate by a vote of 83-14, has been hailed by independent 
     congressional reform advocates as ``far-reaching reform'' and 
     ``landmark legislation.'' According to Democracy 21 President 
     Fred Wertheimer, ``this Congress has passed fundamental 
     government integrity reforms to respond to the worst 
     congressional corruption scandals in thirty years.''
       The new law (and procedures adopted by Senate committees in 
     anticipation of the law's enactment) has already improved 
     public awareness of earmarking activity--activity that had 
     been obscured from public view even as the number of earmarks 
     exploded during Republican control of Congress over the last 
     decade. For the first time, earmarks and the identity of 
     their sponsors are fully disclosed on the Internet before 
     legislation comes to the Senate floor, and there is a 
     meaningful process to curb the inclusion of dead-of-night 
     spending in conference reports.
       Your letter of September 20 challenges an anticipated 
     ruling by the Senate Parliamentarian regarding the scope of 
     the new point of order in Rule XLIV. But you fail to 
     acknowledge that the ruling you now claim to be ``saddened'' 
     by is compelled by key definitions in two amendments you 
     sponsored during Senate floor debate last January, both of 
     which were incorporated into the final bill essentially word-
     for-word. Further, the anticipated ruling is grounded on 
     sound policy reasons involving the distinction between mere 
     authorizations and actual spending provisions--a distinction 
     that you and Senator Coburn openly discussed during floor 
     debate on your amendments.
       At the outset, we note that many of the new rules in Pub. 
     L. 110-81 apply to authorization bills as well as spending 
     bills. For example, the newly strengthened Rule XXVIII, which 
     permits ``surgical'' points of order against out-of-scope 
     matter in a conference report, applies to all types of 
     conference reports, including authorizing bills and 
     appropriations bills. The Rule XXVIII point of order 
     maintains the longstanding definition of out-of-scope matter.
       Similarly, the disclosure requirements in new Rule XLIV 
     apply to legislative items that merely authorize spending, as 
     well as those that actually spend money. Moreover, disclosure 
     is required for items in committee reports as well as in 
     legislative text. Information about such items, including the 
     identity of the members who sponsored them, must be posted on 
     a public Internet website 48 hours before a bill is 
     considered on the Senate floor.
       The new point of order in Rule XLIV, however, applies to 
     actual spending rather than to mere authorizations. This new 
     point of order is extraordinary because, for the first time, 
     Senate rules prohibit conferees from including in a 
     conference report matter plainly within the scope of the 
     conference. The anticipated interpretation by the 
     Parliamentarian is compelled by the plain language of 
     amendments that you yourself sponsored during Senate debate 
     on the ethics bill.
       Amendment No. 11, which you successfully offered and the 
     relevant part of which was included word-for-word in the 
     final law, requires public disclosure not only of certain 
     items ``providing'' funding but also items ``authorizing or 
     recommending'' funding. Thus, the explicit language requires 
     disclosure of items in appropriations bills, authorizing 
     bills, and even report language accompanying bills.
       But Amendment No. 98, which you co-sponsored with Senators 
     Ensign and McCain and which was adopted by unanimous consent, 
     contains a completely different definition of items that 
     would be subject to a point of order if included in a 
     conference report. This definition, unlike the definition in 
     Amendment No. 11, makes no reference to authorizations; 
     instead, it describes an item ``containing a specific level 
     of funding for any specific account, specific program, 
     specific project, or specific activity, when no such specific 
     funding was provided for'' in either the House or Senate 
     bill. Further, a provision in that amendment made clear that 
     it only applied to appropriations conference reports--if a 
     point of order was sustained, ``any modification of total 
     amounts appropriated necessary to reflect the deletion of the 
     matter struck from the conference report shall be made'' 
     (emphasis added). The definition in Amendment No. 98 was 
     incorporated essentially word-for-word into Public Law 110-
     81.
       The inclusion of the word ``authorizing'' in Amendment No. 
     11 and the absence of that word--along with the trigger of 
     ``specific funding'' and reference to ``amounts 
     appropriated''--in Amendment No. 98 compel the 
     Parliamentarian's ruling that authorizations are subject to 
     disclosure but not subject to the new point of order in Rule 
     XLIV. An authorization bill does not contain ``specific 
     funding'' and it does not ``appropriate'' any amounts; it is 
     merely permission for possible funding in the future. An 
     analysis by the Congressional Research Service confirms this 
     interpretation:

       In summary . . . both the originally-passed rule (Section 
     102) and the new Rule XLIV, paragraph 8, would seem to apply 
     to provisions providing appropriations and direct spending 
     only, generally to provisions that provide some form of 
     spending authority. Neither rule would seem to apply to 
     provisions simply authorizing or reauthorizing a program, 
     project, or activity, without providing any funding.

     Memo from the Congressional Research Service to Majority 
     Leader Reid, September 11, 2007.

       The remarks of you and your co-sponsors during the Senate 
     floor debate on S. 1 also reflect this understanding. In 
     arguing for earmark reform you spoke about ``spending'' and 
     ``appropriations'' bills. For example, you said: ``And if we 
     put that money in an appropriations bill designated just for 
     them, it is an earmark. That is a Federal earmark.'' (Cong. 
     Rec. 8417, Jan. 11, 2007). You urged that Congress ``show the 
     American people that we were going to spend their money in an 
     honest way.'' (Id. at 8416). You said you were ``trying to 
     let the American people know how we are spending their 
     money.'' (Id. at S417). And you made the point that ``in the 
     appropriations bills there were 12,852 earmarks.'' (Id. at 
     S426). (Emphases added in each case.)
       In your floor colloquy with Senator Coburn, he repeatedly 
     emphasized that your shared concern was with ``appropriations 
     bills'' and ``spending.'' (See id. at 425-427). In fact, 
     Senator Coburn was very explicit in identifying the 
     difference between an authorizing bill and an appropriations 
     bill and stated flatly: ``you don't have an earmark if it is 
     authorized'' (Id. at S42); ``Items authorized are not 
     earmarks'' (Id. at S427).
       Similarly, in Senator Ensign and McCain's comments 
     regarding Amendment No. 98, they spoke about federal spending 
     and appropriations bills, not authorizing bills--``We should 
     scrutinize how Federal dollars are spent''; ``We must ensure 
     that taxpayers'' dollars are being spent wisely''; ``The 
     growth in earmarked funding in appropriations bills during 
     the past 12 years has been staggering.'' (Id. at S 741, 
     emphases added). Nothing in the floor debate on S. 1 reflects 
     an intent to subject authorizing language in conference 
     reports to the point of order under Rule XLIV. Quite the 
     opposite--the plain language of the amendments and the floor 
     debate on earmarks was focused on spending and appropriations 
     bills. The sentiments you now express simply do not square 
     with relevant legislative history.
       There are sound policy reasons for the distinction between 
     authorizations and spending provisions under Rule XLIV. The 
     availability of a surgical point of order against a 
     conference report represents an exception to the long-
     standing parliamentary principle that a conference report may 
     not be amended. Since conference reports must be adopted in 
     identical form by both houses of Congress, endless amendment 
     of conference reports would disrupt the orderly resolution of 
     legislative disagreements. In order to instill needed 
     discipline in the legislative process, the new law creates 
     two exceptions to that principle: the surgical point of order 
     against out-of-scope material under Rule XXVIII and the point 
     of order against new spending items in conference reports 
     under Rule XLIV. But extension of the Rule XLIV point of 
     order to authorizing language in conference reports is 
     unwarranted and would thwart finality in the legislative 
     process.
       Stronger safeguards are appropriate when Congress actually 
     spends taxpayer money, whether in appropriations bills or in 
     other bills which directly affect the federal budget. But 
     when Congress passes an authorizing bill, it is simply 
     expressing a goal. For instance, spending for disadvantaged 
     students under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act was 
     authorized at $25 billion in FY07, but only $12.8 billion in 
     funding was actually appropriated. The pending Water 
     Resources Development bill authorizes billions of dollars for 
     water projects, but the actual funding of those projects will 
     occur through the appropriations process. In fact, tens of 
     billions of dollars worth of water resources projects have 
     been authorized over the years, but have not yet been funded 
     through an appropriations bill. Each of the spending 
     decisions in the appropriations bills will be subject to the 
     discipline that the new Senate rules impose on such bills and 
     may be challenged during consideration of those bills.
       When earmark abuse occurs, it involves the unjustified use 
     of taxpayer money--not the setting of authorization levels. 
     It is appropriate to require full disclosure of all items 
     that involve specific member-requested projects, including 
     authorizations,

[[Page 25221]]

     but only those items that actually spend taxpayer money 
     should be subject to the extraordinary procedure of allowing 
     a point of order to strike a provision that is within the 
     scope of conference from a conference report.
       Despite your ongoing campaign to discredit the Honest 
     Leadership and Open Government Act, we remain confident its 
     passage was a major accomplishment. 83 Senators and 411 House 
     members voted for the final bill because they recognized it 
     for what it is: the most sweeping ethics reforms in years and 
     a huge step forward toward restoring the confidence of the 
     American people in their government.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Harry Reid,
                                          Senate, Majority Leader.
                                                 Dianne Feinstein,
                                    Chair, Senate Rules Committee.

  Mrs. BOXER. So, Madam President, we have complied in full with the 
Ethics Committee, and we worked with the Parliamentarian every step of 
the way to make sure we were in total concert with that new law because 
we are respectful of it. We have letters from every Senator. We have a 
transparent process here. Everyone who asked for a project put their 
name on the line, and we made sure there was no pecuniary interest of a 
Member or their family.
  So this is an important day for our country. We have all said this in 
different ways, but we are authorizing projects our communities need to 
help protect millions of people in our Nation from catastrophic 
flooding. It also will help restore the great wetlands, estuaries, and 
rivers of our Nation, places where wildlife thrive and that our 
families enjoy today. We want to make sure they enjoy them in the 
future--the hunting, the fishing, the boating, the camping, the outdoor 
industries.
  By the way, those outdoor industries are a very important part of our 
economy. We call it the recreation economy. Without these projects, 
they simply won't be able to thrive.
  WRDA makes other important contributions. It authorizes projects for 
our communities that they need to increase their capacity at their 
ports, to make shipping easier, safer, and more efficient. It literally 
keeps America's economy moving. You cannot have a great country if you 
don't keep up with the infrastructure needs. We saw what happened when 
a bridge collapses, and we are dealing with that in the committee as 
well.
  Look what happens if we don't keep up with our water projects. We are 
not going to be able to move our ships. I know there are, for example, 
in California so many ports, but in many cases a lot of silt builds up 
and they can't move those ships through. So we need to do that. These 
are our gateways to the world. Our manufactured goods, such as computer 
chips, agricultural goods, grains, wines, and fruits, pass through our 
ports and harbors to be sold around the world. We have $5.5 billion 
worth of goods passing through our ports each day and more than 2.5 
billion tons of trade moving through our ports each year. Colleagues, 
that volume is expected to double over the next 15 years.
  That is why we say to this President: Please, please sign this bill. 
Why do we have to fight over every single thing? The fact is, you can't 
have a great economy, the greatest economy in the world, if we can't 
keep our goods moving. And we need to create thousands of new jobs 
right here in America. The port economy is responsible for 
approximately 5 million jobs--and ``jobs'' is your middle name, Madam 
President. So this bill will keep jobs being created and keep goods 
moving. WRDA is essential for goods movement.
  I mentioned recreation. Maybe some people don't know this, but the 
Corps of Engineers is the largest provider of outdoor recreation, 
operating more than 2,500 recreation areas at 463 projects and leasing 
an additional 1,800 sites to State or local parks and recreation 
authorities or private interests. At these projects around the country, 
the Corps hosts 360 million visitors a year at its lakes, beaches, and 
other areas. One in ten Americans--25 million people--visits a Corps 
project at least once a year, and this generates 600,000 jobs related 
to all of this movement.
  So, colleagues, we can all agree that public health and safety, 
economic growth, and environmental protection are important goals, and 
this bill helps to achieve them.
  Finally, I wish to say a word of thanks to leader Harry Reid, who has 
just come onto the floor to make a statement of his own. I know Senator 
Inhofe and I spoke to Senator Reid many, many times, and I know it is 
difficult for him because, just so the public understands, everyone who 
gets a bill out of his or her committee goes right to the majority 
leader to beg for time.
  He made a commitment to me. He told me, and I remember it: When the 
Jewish holidays are completed, we will turn to WRDA. And that is what 
he did. He is a man of his word. This is so very important for the 
country.
  Finally, let me thank the staff. First, the Democratic staff: Bettina 
Poirier, Ken Kopocis, Jeff Rosato, Tyler Rushforth; EPW Republican 
staff: Andy Wheeler, Ruth Van Mark, Angie Giancarlo, Let Mon Lee--I 
have gotten to know these as family; also, the staff of Senator Baucus: 
Jo-Ellen Darcy and Paul Wilkins; and staff of Senator Isakson: Mike 
Quiello.
  This has been not an easy time. But when you get a bill that is 
supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of 
Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau, and the three biggest 
construction labor organizations--Laborers' International, 
International Union of Operating Engineers, United Brotherhood of 
Carpenters and Joiners--when you get all those, plus a host of local 
people, plus a host of water people, I think we are answering a need.
  Again, I thank each and every member of the staff, my dear friend 
Senator Inhofe for being such a good fighter for this, and all the 
Members of the Senate. I know we are going to have a great vote.
  It is my understanding Senator Inhofe may have a closing word prior 
to Senator Reid speaking, so I yield my time.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, it is my understanding I do have more 
time left than I will take. A quick word. I had a communication from my 
wife that she thought I was getting a little emotional about this, so 
let me end on a very positive note and say, yes, I have a presentation 
I make to groups, to conservative groups, talking about the history of 
authorizations since 1816. I gave an abbreviated edition a few minutes 
ago.
  It is so frustrating to me to see people saying, if for some reason--
it isn't going to happen. This is going to pass by a huge margin. If 
the President vetoes, he knows it will be overridden. But if for some 
reason this didn't pass, we would be right back where we were in 2002, 
2004, 2006, and we would be having appropriators out there without any 
kind of discipline or any kind of process to go through in making those 
determinations.
  I think it would be the wrong thing to do.
  Lastly--I didn't mention this--in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, we 
had quite a number of floods. If it had not been for what the Corps of 
Engineers had already done that was previously authorized and then 
later on was appropriated, it would have cost us, they now say, $5.4 
billion more in damages than it did.
  I hope the good conservatives will look at this and realize we have 
to have authorization in the process.
  I yield the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished majority leader.
  Mr. REID. This will be the first and last vote today.
  Madam President, I have been chairman of this committee on two 
separate occasions, the Environment and Public Works Committee. This is 
a masterful piece of legislation that was put together by the two 
managers of this bill; the chairman, Senator Boxer, ranking member 
Senator Inhofe. They have been in reverse rolls. Senator Inhofe was 
chairman of this committee.
  People complain about the Senate not working together on a bipartisan 
basis and perhaps that is true on a lot of occasions. But there are 
many occasions where we need to look at the glass being half full 
rather than being half empty, and here is an example of

[[Page 25222]]

the glass being half full. This is a fine piece of legislation that is 
being pushed by two Senators with ideological bents that are totally 
different. Senator Boxer has one political philosophy, Senator Inhofe 
has another. But that is how things should work around here.
  Being a little bit personal about this, I think people recognize that 
Senator Ensign and I work very well together. We are not political 
soulmates, but we are friends and we work together. That is what has 
been accomplished. We don't have political soulmates, but they work 
together, giving and taking, and legislation is the art of compromise, 
consensus building. That is what this is. Senator Boxer didn't get all 
she wanted. Senator Inhofe didn't get all he wanted. But they got 
something good for this country.
  I want the record spread with the fact that this is an extremely 
important piece of legislation that literally could not have been 
accomplished--not only with what they did in committee--they got it 
passed on the floor--frankly, without the persistence they have had. 
Anytime I tried to turn away from it, they would head me in the right 
direction. I am glad we are here. This bill deserves a big vote. This 
is one of the finest pieces of legislation this body has passed all 
year.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
  Mrs. BOXER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second. The question is on agreeing to the conference 
report. The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant journal clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), 
the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dodd), the Senator from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily 
absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kansas (Mr. Brownback), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), and 
the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Smith).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sanders). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 81, nays 12, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 347 Leg.]

                                YEAS--81

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Bunning
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Tester
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--12

     Allard
     Burr
     Coburn
     DeMint
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Gregg
     Kyl
     McCaskill
     Sessions
     Sununu

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Biden
     Brownback
     Dodd
     Kerry
     McCain
     Obama
     Smith
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as we conclude this historic vote, I 
thank colleagues on both sides of the aisle and briefly will put a few 
names into the Record. I know we are moving to another bill. I wish to 
thank Senator Boxer, Senator Inhofe, and Senator Reid, for living up to 
his commitment.
  For the Record, there were several people on my staff who worked so 
hard over the last 7 years: Herman ``Bubba'' Gesser, Allen Richey, Paul 
Rainwater, Kathleen Strottman, Jason Matthews, Jason Schendle, 
Stephanie Leger, Robert Bailey, Jennifer Lancaster, Tanner Johnson, 
Mark Tiner, Lauren Jardell, Elaine Kimbrell and Lucia Marker-Moore.
  That is how long this bill has been going on. I have literally had 12 
people in and out of the Projects Department working on this bill.
  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent from the 
vote today on the conference report of the Water Resources Development 
Act. Had I been present, I would have supported the conference report 
because it authorizes a number of essential flood control, navigation 
and ecosystem projects in Massachusetts and around the Nation. We have 
a responsibility to safeguard our environment, and this legislation 
will help ensure that future generations will be able to take full 
advantage of all that nature offers in Massachusetts.
  The conference report directs the Army Corps of Engineers to study 
the Gateway region of Lawrence to determine whether to fill abandoned 
channels along the Merrimack and Spicket Rivers. Filling the channels 
will allow for the site to be redeveloped safely and stop chemical 
leakage into the Merrimack River. It also requires the Army Corps to 
conduct a navigation study of the Merrimack River in Haverhill to 
determine whether the agency should proceed with dredging to improve 
navigation.
  The conference report modifies the coordinates of the Federal 
navigation channels in the Mystic River in Medford and the Island End 
River in Chelsea. The modifications will support waterfront development 
by increasing access to the channels.
  It also directs the Army Corps of Engineers to study Woods Hole, the 
East Basin of Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich, and Oak Bluffs Harbor to 
determine whether the Army Corps should proceed with dredging in those 
areas to improve navigation. It modifies the coordinates of the federal 
navigation channels in Chatham's Aunt Lydia's Cove and Falmouth Harbor. 
These modifications will support waterfront development by increasing 
access to the channels.
  An earlier Army Corps of Engineers restoration plan for Milford Pond 
recommends that the pond be dredged. The conference report authorizes 
the Army Corps of Engineers to assist the community in removing the 
excess sediment.
  Finally, the conference report directs the Army Corps to prepare an 
environmental restoration report on Mill Pond in Littleton. This report 
is an essential step before the Army Corps can assist the community in 
removing excess sediment and restoring the pond.
  Much good will come from the provisions I have described here, all of 
which I worked to include in the final version of the Water Resources 
Development Act. However, we must recognize that our work to improve 
Corps of Engineers project planning is not done. Corps project planning 
must account for climate change, and Corps projects should use 
nonstructural approaches whenever practicable to help protect the 
natural systems that can buffer the increased floods, storms, storm 
surges, and droughts that we will see as the Earth's temperature 
continues to rise. The safety and well-being of communities across the 
country are at stake.
  Many of my colleagues have already expressed their support for this 
important change. In May of this year, 51 Senators voted for a 
bipartisan climate change amendment to the Water Resources Development 
Act that I offered along with Senators Collins, Feingold, Sanders, 
Carper, Reed, Biden, Whitehouse, Cantwell, Snowe and Nelson. 
Unfortunately, we needed 60 votes to sustain the amendment.

[[Page 25223]]

  I remain deeply committed to ensuring that the Corps, and all of our 
federal agencies, plan for the future climate that we know will be upon 
us, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this fight.
  It is clear that climate change is real and that its affects must be 
factored into our public policy. It is equally clear that climate 
change will have very significant consequences for the safety and 
welfare of the American people, and people across the globe.
  The basic facts are these: At both poles and in nearly all points in 
between, the temperature of the Earth's surface is heating up at a 
frightening and potentially catastrophic rate. Temperatures have 
already increased about .8 degrees Centigrade, about 1.4 degrees 
Fahrenheit. Even if we could stop all greenhouse gas emissions today, 
the current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere almost certainly 
will produce additional temperature increases. Realistic projections of 
future warming range from 2 to 11.5 deg. F.
  These are the findings of scientists and governments from across the 
globe, as set forth in the most recent report of the IPCC, the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That report was written by 
some 600 scientists and reviewed by 600 experts. It was then edited by 
officials from 154 governments. The IPCC report concludes that it is 
``unequivocal that Earth's climate is warming as it is now evident from 
the observations of increases in global averages of air and ocean 
temperatures, widespread melting of snows and ice, and rising global 
mean sea level.''
  Scientists expect that the earth's increased temperatures will cause 
an increase in extreme weather events, including more powerful storms, 
more frequent floods, and extended droughts. These changes threaten the 
health and safety of individuals and communities around the globe. 
These changes also pose a significant threat to the economy, and will 
put added pressure on water resources, increasing competition among 
agricultural, municipal, industrial, and ecological uses.
  The United States is extremely vulnerable to these threats. Coastal 
communities and habitats, especially along the gulf and Atlantic 
coasts, will be stressed by increasing sea level and more intense 
storms, both of which can lead to greater storm surges and flooding. In 
the West, there will be more flooding in the winter and early spring 
followed by more water shortages during the summer. The Great Lakes and 
major river systems are expected to have lower water levels, 
exacerbating existing challenges for managing water quality, 
navigation, recreation, hydropower generation, and water transfers. The 
Southwestern United States is already in the midst of a drought that is 
projected to continue in the 21st century and may cause the area to 
transition to a more arid climate.
  The Corps of Engineers stands on the front lines of all of these 
threats to our water resources. They are our first responders in the 
fight against global warming. Hurricane and flood protection for New 
Orleans, levees along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, levees in 
Sacramento, CA, and ports up and down our coasts, east and west are 
just a few of the many hundreds of Corps projects that will feel the 
strain, impact, and consequences of global climate change.
  Corps planning currently does not take climate change into account. 
To the contrary, the Corps' current planning guidelines are explicitly 
based on the existence of a stable and unchanging climate, and on the 
assumption that flooding is not affected by climate trends or cycles. 
Continued reliance on these outdated guidelines is like driving down 
the highway at 80 miles an hour with blinders on. It is bound to lead 
to disaster.
  The only climate change impact addressed by the Corps' guidelines is 
sea level rise. Under its internal planning guidelines, the Corps is 
supposed to take account of sea level rise when planning coastal 
projects. Those guidelines do not require the Corps to assess any other 
effects of global warming like increased hurricanes, storm surges, and 
flooding. The Corps' compliance even with its internal requirement to 
look at sea level rise is spotty at best. For example, in proposing a 
$133 million dredging project for Bolinas Lagoon in northern 
California, the Corps said it would not address sea level rise because 
it was too complicated to do so.
  As importantly, despite a statutory mandate to consider non 
structural approaches to project planning, the Corps rarely recommends 
such approaches. This is true even where such approaches could provide 
the same or better project benefits. The Corps instead relies heavily 
on its traditional approaches of straight jacketing rivers with levees 
and floodwalls. These types of projects sever critical connections 
between rivers and their wetlands and floodplains, and lead to 
significant coastal and floodplain wetland losses. These approaches 
have left coastal communities, like New Orleans, far more vulnerable, 
and have exacerbated flood damages by inducing development in high 
risk, flood prone areas and by increasing downstream flooding.
  Nonstructural approaches should be used whenever possible as they 
avoid damage to healthy rivers, streams, floodplains, and wetlands that 
can help buffer the increased storms and flooding that we are seeing as 
a result of climate change. These systems protect against flooding and 
storm surge by acting as natural sponges and basins that absorb flood 
waters and act as barriers between storm surges and homes, buildings, 
and people. Healthy streams and wetlands also help minimize the impacts 
of drought by recharging groundwater supplies and filtering pollutants 
from drinking water. Protecting these resources also provides a host of 
additional benefits, including providing critical habitat for fish and 
wildlife, and exceptional recreational opportunities.
  Hurricane Katrina showed us the tragic consequences of an intense 
storm running head on into a badly degraded wetlands system and faulty 
Corps project planning. Coastal wetlands lost to Corps projects were 
not available to buffer the Hurricane's storm surge before it slammed 
into the city. One Corps project, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, 
funneled the storm surge into the heart of New Orleans. Corps projects 
in New Orleans also were not designed to address the increased sea 
level rise or land subsidence, and were not strong enough to withstand 
the type of storm that scientists say may become all too common.
  I am committed to ensuring that future Corps planning does not repeat 
the mistakes of the past, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this 
fight as we consider future WRDA bills. Corps project planning must 
account for the realities of climate change, and protect the natural 
systems that can buffer its affects.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak with 
Senator Feingold in morning business for 15 minutes.
  I understand the other side is going to object to a unanimous consent 
request. I am going to ask if you would like me to do it upfront. Is 
that correct?
  Mr. ENSIGN. Yes.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I always oblige the Senator from Nevada. So if I have 
unanimous consent, that will be the order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ENSIGN. Reserving the right to object, the Senator is going to 
ask for unanimous consent on the bill?
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. If I may finish. It is my understanding that the 
Senator has another commitment, and therefore I am happy to accommodate 
him in that regard.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I wish to ask, you are going to ask 
unanimous consent on H.R. 1255 also?
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I would be happy to do that also.
  Mr. BUNNING. I will wait then.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I will do them both first and then both Senators can 
object, and then Senator Feingold and I

[[Page 25224]]

will have some time to speak, if that is agreeable.
  Mr. BUNNING. Thank you very much.

                          ____________________