[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BIPARTISANSHIP IS NOT DEAD

  (Mr. WALZ of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, bipartisanship is not dead. There 
are policies grounded in common sense that lawmakers on both sides of 
the aisle can agree upon.
  I'm proud to be part of a group of lawmakers, Democrat and 
Republican, who are fighting to complete the Lewis and Clark Rural 
Water System in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. This infrastructure 
project alone will bring drinking water to an area of the United States 
the size of Connecticut. It will sustain hundreds of jobs and create an 
estimated 10,000 jobs in the long run.
  The funds for this project were promised during the Clinton 
Presidency, the Bush Presidency, and the Obama Presidency. Locals not 
only paid their share, they paid in advance. And yet today, the earth 
movers, the forklifts, and the dump trucks sit idle, and no water runs 
to thirsty communities.
  A bipartisan coalition in this Congress is ready to act to push this 
project forward. With only 14 legislative days left in our 
congressional calendar, the time is now to work together, create jobs 
in a commonsense approach, bring Lewis and Clark to a reality.

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