[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16093-16094]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               WATER RESOURCES REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Mrs. Bustos) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BUSTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about an important 
provision that I worked hard on with a bipartisan group of Illinois 
Senators and House Members to have included in the new Water Resources 
Reform and Development Act. This bill, also known as WRRDA, is a vital 
piece of legislation that Congress will consider later today.
  Our provision would help improve the Nation's water infrastructure, 
including the aging locks and dams along the Mississippi and Illinois 
Rivers, through public-private partnerships that would expedite 
projects and save taxpayers money. It comes from a House and Senate, 
Democrat and Republican bill called the Water Infrastructure Now Public 
Private-Partnership Act.
  I was proud to introduce this bill earlier this year with Senators 
Durbin and Kirk and Representative Rodney Davis, all proudly of 
Illinois. Our provision would help clear a $60 billion backlog in the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects that will take decades to 
complete without outside investment. It does this by creating a pilot 
program to explore agreements between the Army Corps of Engineers and 
private entities as alternatives to traditional financing, planning, 
design, and construction models.
  The Mississippi and Illinois Rivers are absolutely critical to the 
economic well-being of my region in Illinois, the entire Midwest, and 
the United States and the world. These locks and dams were built during 
the administration of

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Franklin Roosevelt and are now close to 80 years old. This is why 
action must be taken to expand and modernize the locks and dams that 
help transport our goods and products worldwide.
  By encouraging public-private partnerships, our bipartisan effort 
will help make the movement of the high-quality goods of our region, 
whether they be from any of the numerous farmers and manufacturers that 
call Illinois home, more swift, efficient, and safe.
  To put this in perspective, the Mississippi River is the world's 
largest navigable inland waterway. Just on the Mississippi River alone, 
60 percent--well over half--of the Nation's agricultural goods are 
transported. It is absolutely critical to American commerce and the 
smooth movement of goods that this is made as efficient as possible.
  Our bill fits perfectly into that equation, and it is good for the 
taxpayer, the farmer, and industry. I am very proud of that.
  In addition to our efforts to improve our Nation's locks and dams, 
the Water Resources Reform and Development Act also contains many 
provisions that will boost local economies across our country. The 
WRRDA bill will lead to upgraded water transportation systems and offer 
vulnerable communities better protection against flooding, which is 
very important to the region that I represent. It will promote 
America's competitiveness, prosperity, and economic growth for years to 
come.
  Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress to work with those I don't always 
agree with and who don't always agree with me, but as a way to find 
commonsense, reasonable solutions to create jobs and lay the foundation 
for a stronger middle class.
  I was proud that the WRRDA bill passed out of the House 
Transportation Committee on a bipartisan, unanimous basis. I give a 
great deal of credit to Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, 
Ranking Member Nick Rahall, Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs, 
Subcommittee Ranking Member Tim Bishop, and all of my colleagues on the 
committee for their hard work over the last year. It is truly an 
example of congressional Republicans and Democrats working together, 
and I hope it is something that we will see a lot more of.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this 
important job-creating bill when it comes to the floor later today.

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