[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6997]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PORT SPENDING TARGETS

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, the Panama Canal expansion is set to open next 
month, posing challenges for many of our Nation's ports. That is why it 
is more important than ever that our ports have the funding that they 
need to prepare for the future and stay globally competitive.
  Since coming to Congress, I have led an effort to ensure that money 
collected at our Nation's ports in the harbor maintenance tax be spent 
at our Nation's ports. We have set up a glide path to get us to 100 
percent spending of the funding by 2025, and each year we have a target 
to get closer to that goal.
  This week, we are voting on the energy and water appropriations bill 
on the floor, and I want to thank the leadership of the Appropriations 
Committee--Chairmen Rogers and Simpson and Ranking Members Lowey and 
Kaptur--for recognizing the importance of port spending targets.
  This year $1.2 billion is set to go back to our ports and our port 
communities, making it the third year in a row that we have hit our 
target. I am proud of this continued achievement. This funding will go 
to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where I come from, and also 
to ports across this country to create construction jobs and economic 
opportunities for decades to come.

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