Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEN RAY LUJÁN of New Mexico. Mr. Chairman, I rise to amend the Energy and Water Appropriations bill to increase the construction account by $15 million to ensure local governments like the city of Rio Rancho, the county of Bernalillo, and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District get reimbursed for work they have done in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps of Engineers works with local governments in New Mexico to construct levies, implement flood control measures, and other important infrastructure for the safety of the public.

More specifically, the city of Rio Rancho entered into a reimbursement contract with the Army Corps of Engineers and has not been paid back for several years due to the lack of appropriations. The same goes for the county of Bernalillo, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, and other communities across the United States.

This delay in reimbursement has led to interruptions in financing for other city projects and also has the potential to hurt the credit rating of these entities if they do not recover these funds via reimbursement, as stated in their contracts with the Federal Government.

By increasing the dollar amount in this account, which includes a number of programs and accounts that are critical to local governments--like engineering, construction, technical assistance, flood control, and environmental infrastructure--we can get these entities reimbursed and get these liabilities off the books of the Army Corps of Engineers to get other projects going.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this increase has zero impact on the budget and, in fact, would save money by reducing liability for the Federal Government.

Mr. Chairman, local governments have been left holding an IOU from the Federal Government for doing work based on the good faith written agreements with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Mr. Chairman, I understand there may be opposition from some of my colleagues, but I am hoping that I can persuade the chairman to support me in this effort.

Under section 593 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, the city of Rio Rancho and other local governments entered into agreements with the Army Corps of Engineers. When city and local governments enter into reimbursement contracts, they expect to be reimbursed. They have annual budgets with the expectations they will get paid back. Congress should live up to these obligations in the authority given to the agency by Congress.

Mr. Chairman, I understand the constraints that the subcommittee dealt with, with the allocations given to them. But we need to make sure that we are working to make these local governments whole with the agreements and contracts they have with the Federal Government.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BEN RAY LUJÁN of New Mexico. Mr. Chairman, I would like to pose a question either to the chairman or the ranking member:

With local governments like this entering into agreements with the Army Corps of Engineers and doing work like this, is there something that could be done associated with trying to get an assessment of those, and maybe we can chip away at those reimbursements in a timely manner? Is that something that we might be able to work on?

Mr. Chairman, I would yield to anyone who might be able to respond to that.

Mr. Chairman, my question is:

With local governments, like the ones in New Mexico and other parts of the United States, that have entered into agreements with the Army Corps of Engineers or others for reimbursement in a timely manner, is there a way that we might be able to chip away or work at this? I would be willing to withdraw the amendment if I could get an assurance that this is something that we can look at and work at.

I have offered this amendment in years past. And, again, there are local governments across the United States that are waiting for reimbursement, and I think it is something that would be good for us to take a look at.

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Mr. BEN RAY LUJÁN of New Mexico. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the staff for their time and their effort and the courtesy of the chairman and the ranking member.

I will not offer this amendment today and we will see if we might be able to work together, Mr. Chairman, and if not, we will come back next year and we will see what we can do. Maybe we will need to take a vote. But I appreciate everyone's courtesy today.

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

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