Senate Committee Begins Work on WRDA 2010

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing today to highlight the many benefits of projects authorized by the Water Resources Development Act.

The hearing kicked off the Committee’s effort to develop a 2010 WRDA bill authorizing U.S. Army Corp of Engineers projects. In her opening Statement, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) voiced her commitment to “move forward with WRDA this year,” saying she was “hopeful we can repeat the success of 2007.”

In that year, the Senate voted to override a Presidential veto and enact the bill into law. Chairwoman Boxer emphasized her focus on job creation, noting that “the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that every $1 billion in federal investment in water resources projects creates approximately 26,000 jobs.”

Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the Ranking Member of the Committee, stated that he “supports the Chair’s intent to move a WRDA bill this year,” noting that “regularly enacted WRDA bills provide the best opportunities to address our nation’s water resources infrastructure needs.”

In his opening statement, Senator Inhofe directly addressed critics of the last WRDA bill. “It took seven years to enact the last WRDA (WRDA 2007), with detractors saying that Corps projects are a waste of taxpayer dollars. I couldn’t disagree more. This year I again was ranked by National Journal as the most conservative Senator, and I certainly take fiscal responsibility seriously. I firmly believe, however, that the two things the federal government should invest in are national defense and public infrastructure. Investments in infrastructure – including water resources infrastructure such as navigation channels, ports, flood control, and hurricane protection measures – not only have short-term job creation benefits, but more importantly, they help bring about long-term economic development opportunities.”