George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse-- Continued

Floor Speech

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I thank my colleague.

Madam President, I thank my colleagues from the west coast for the amazing job of pointing out the egregious nature of this poison pill amendment that was added to this very critical bill. We are here tonight after midnight talking about the Water Resources Development Act. It is a bill that addresses water resource projects and policies that are very important to our economic development and the environmental welfare of communities in my State and across the Nation.

I was proud to work closely with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft this bipartisan WRDA bill. I thank the Senator from California for her tremendous work, listening to all of us, incorporating our ideas and making sure this reflected all of the needs of our States. I personally fought for critical provisions in this bill important to Washington State, making sure our Columbia Basin tribes have an opportunity to give their descendants--the ancient ones--a proper burial and a final resting place. I thank my colleague for putting that in this bill and for keeping our ports competitive, which is extremely important in the Pacific Northwest in our global maritime economy, and making sure our workforce is strong. I am proud it addresses the needs of Flint, MI--and I see my colleagues from Michigan here tonight--communities that have been dealing with lead in their drinking water. This was a good bill. It was a good bill.

But as you have heard, at the last minute, a poison pill rider concerning California water management, in the face of a long-running drought, turned another bipartisan bill into a very--as you have heard--contentious, divisive bill. It is a bill that is especially problematic for our west coast States. I thank my colleague from Washington, Senator Cantwell, who has fought diligently, worked hard to get us to where we are, and now has had to turn against this bill because she knows the long-term consequences of this. This was a provision that was added very late.

There were no hearings. There was no agreement. It wasn't included in either the House or Senate versions of this bill, and then there was this backroom deal that set new precedent and undermined the Endangered Species Act. It reduces congressional oversight of water projects in our Western States and could harm our commercial, our recreational, and our tribal salmon fisheries along the entire west coast. Environmental and conservation groups and west coast industries are very opposed to this last-minute backroom deal. I wanted to be here tonight to stand with my colleagues from the west coast. I will vote against this bill tonight because of the inclusion of this last-minute rider, and I urge our colleagues to stand with us as well.

I yield the floor.

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