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“ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E628 on April 30, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2016
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speech of
HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2028) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes:
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support and as a cosponsor of the Huizenga-Hahn Amendment to increase funding in the 2016 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Operations and Maintenance Account by $36,306,000. This modest increase, offset by reducing funding for the Department of Energy, Departmental Administration, by $36.7 million, will benefit Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund related projects.
I have the good fortune to represent the city of Boston and its Port. Like many ports in this country, the port of Boston is vital to the local and regional economies, generating $2.4 billion in economic benefits annually and supporting 34,000 jobs.
In fact, every one of our 50 states relies on seaports for imports and exports, totaling some $3.8 billion worth of goods moving through U.S. seaports each day, supporting more than 13 million jobs across the country.
The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund was created in 1986 to ensure that we could maintain and expand our ports and harbors in order to facilitate commerce and drive our economy. For too long Congress has engaged in budgetary shell games, starving the fund and hampering our ability to undertake dredging projects critical to maintaining this vital infrastructure.
The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013, which the House passed overwhelmingly last year by a vote of 412-4, moved to rectify this situation by setting incremental target expenditures from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that reaches 80% in 2020.
Mr. Chair, our amendment is simply in line with the amount overwhelmingly supported by my colleagues, increasing from $1.178 billion to $1.25 billion the amount allocated from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, in order to support the critical needs of our nation's ports. The balance in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund at the beginning of fiscal 2016 will be approximately $8.9 billion. The money is there. With the re-opening of the Panama Canal slated for next year we need to re-double our efforts to make certain that U.S. ports are prepared for increased commercial opportunities and will remain competitive.
All of our constituents benefit from the success of U.S. ports. It is time that we provide the resources to ensure that success. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
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