[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8524]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HARBOR MAINTENANCE

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, after a lot of hard work and collaborative 
effort, I am pleased that the Water Resources Reform and Development 
Act conference committee, which I was honored to serve on, was finally 
able to come to a fair, bipartisan agreement on the new water bill that 
will create jobs and keep our ports globally competitive.
  As a representative of the Nation's busiest port complex in Los 
Angeles and Long Beach, and cofounder of our PORTS Caucus here in 
Congress, I have fought hard from my first day in Congress to increase 
funding for our Nation's ports by fully utilizing our Harbor 
Maintenance Trust Fund to ensure that money that is collected at our 
ports goes back to our ports.
  They don't call me Ms. Harbor Maintenance Tax for nothing around 
here. It has been a long journey, but I am thrilled that after 
countless hearings and meetings with my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle and with the leadership from Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member 
Rahall that our proposals to fully utilize our Harbor Maintenance Trust 
Fund and to allow ports to use these funds for expanded uses is 
included in this final water bill.
  When we pass this bipartisan measure, it is a victory not just for 
the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, but for all our ports--our 
ports in Savannah and all those in this Nation. When our ports are 
strong, Mr. Speaker, our Nation is strong.

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