[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Page 30458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I wish to rise and speak on the Water 
Resources Development Act, and I wish to, first of all, thank Chairman 
Boxer and Ranking Member Inhofe of the EPW Committee for all the work 
they have done on the WRDA--Water Resources Development Act--and I wish 
to particularly thank my colleague, Max Baucus, as he is chairman, and 
I am the ranking member of the subcommittee overseeing the Corps of 
Engineers and the Water Resources Development Act. I voted for it on 
the floor, and today, when the vote comes to override the veto of the 
President, I am going to vote to override the veto. I wish to enter 
into the record today, specifically and candidly and briefly, exactly 
the reasons why.
  No. 1, the Water Resources Development Act is an authorization, not 
appropriations. To characterize it as overspending is not correct 
because it is the appropriations bill where we do that.
  No. 2, authorizations set priorities, priorities upon which the 
Appropriations Committee makes decisions based on the money it has and 
on where best to spend the resources we have.
  No. 3, as for the size of the authorization, everyone should know 
that up until the year 2000, this Senate, and the House on the other 
end of this building, biannually passed Water Resources Development Act 
reauthorizations. We have gone 7 years without prioritizing the Corps 
of Engineers and the water resources of this country.
  Think about what has happened in those 7 years--Rita and Katrina in 
particular; from my standpoint, in my State of Georgia, a category 4, 
100-year drought threatening the drinking water of millions and 
millions of Georgians, North Carolinians, Tennesseans, and Alabamans. 
In this bill is money for the North Metro Planning District of Georgia, 
a consolidation of all the governments in the region, to coordinate 
water resource development so we can better deal with retention, saving 
water as it flows downstream so we can have drinking water assurances 
and we can have backup that allows us to assure our citizens when 
another 100-year drought, category 4 drought comes, that we will have 
done the planning necessary to deal with it, which right now has not 
been done. For this bill to be vetoed is to say no to an imminent 
priority in my State and for tens of millions of people in the 
Southeast.
  So while I have complete respect for the President of the United 
States, and I commend him on so many things and don't like to vote 
against him, he is wrong to veto this bill. I will be proud to vote to 
override that veto because I wish to prioritize infrastructure for our 
country on a timely basis; I wish to give the appropriators the 
indications of what we, as a Congress, think are the most needed 
programs to be appropriated; I wish to deal with the ramifications and 
the disaster of Katrina and Rita, to see that it doesn't happen again; 
I want the Everglades project to go forward; and I want my State and my 
people to have the drinking water and the water resources necessary.
  For us to delay or for us to deny would be wrong. We will have fights 
on the appropriations bills over how much money to spend. We should 
never have a fight on our responsibility to prioritize the needs of our 
States or the needs of our citizens. I commend Chairman Boxer, I 
commend Senator Inhofe and Senator Baucus for their hard work, and I 
will join with them in voting to override the veto and set the 
priorities for the citizens of my State and for the United States in 
the years to come on their water resources.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Menendez). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Florida is recognized.

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