Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will oppose the pending nomination of Jeffrey Clark to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. This is the division that leads the Department of Justice's enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. Mr. Clark is not the right person for that job.

In 2014, he said the science of climate change is ``contestable.'' He represented British Petroleum in litigation over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. He has represented the Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups in challenging EPA greenhouse gas regulations.

He is a favorite of the Federalist Society, having chaired that group's environmental law and practice group. But his nomination is strongly opposed by groups that care about protecting the environment.

The Sierra Club called him an ``outspoken opponent of environmental and public health protection.'' The Natural Resources Defense Council described him as an ``enemy of the environment.'' He is exactly the wrong person to be in this job of enforcing regulations to protect our environment.

Just during these last few days, the United Nations put out an alert to all of the members around the world. We are going to pay dearly for this current administration's decision to remove ourselves from the Paris Agreement, where literally every country on Earth agreed to try to do something to clean up the mess of our environment and leave our children a better place to live. We decided, under President Trump, to be the only Nation to step away from it. Why? What in the world were we thinking? Can you believe that things that are happening that are easily documented can be ignored? Do you see the flooding that is going on now in Florida on a regular basis? That is just 1 of 1,000 different examples.

If we don't accept responsibility in our generation to make this a better world, shame on us. We want to leave our kids a better world, but for goodness' sake, do we have the political courage to do it? Will we be able to say to the President: You are just wrong.

We have to work together with nations around the world. The United States should be a leader, not an apologist. The President said he wants to make America first. How about America first when it comes to cleaning up the environment? There is nothing wrong with that leadership. It is something we should be proud of.

This man, Jeffrey Clark, who is aspiring to be the Assistant Attorney General, just doesn't buy into what I just said, and I can't support him as a result. S. 3021

Mr. President, the 2018 WRDA bill--the Water Resources Development Act--that we are considering on the floor this week is an important step in modernizing our Nation's water infrastructure and ensuring access to clean drinking water. It goes back to my earlier comment. If we are talking about the environment, one of the first things people say is, I want safe drinking water for myself and my family. Next to that, I want to be able to breathe in air that is not going to make me sick or hurt any member of my family.

Our Nation's infrastructure is aging and in need of significant investment. Last year, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our Nation's levees, inland waterways, and drinking water infrastructure a D rating in terms of its infrastructure report card. They estimate that $80 billion is needed over the next decade to improve our Nation's levees--$80 billion. They also estimate that $4.9 billion is needed over the next 2 years to maintain our inland waterways--$4.9 billion-- and $1 trillion is needed over the next 25 years to expand our drinking water infrastructure. These are massive numbers, and they are going to require sustained and significant Federal investment if we are ever going to reach these goals.

This bill--the WRDA bill--is a step in the right direction. It authorizes $6.1 billion in funding for the Army Corps flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration projects around the country. These are critical projects in every State.

I just went down a few weeks ago with Senator McConnell to the Ohio River. The Olmsted Locks and Dam that has been under construction for decades is finally completed. It is an amazing investment. It is the most expensive civil infrastructure project in our Nation's history, and it is an indication of the kind of investment that is necessary if we are going to try to tame rivers like the Ohio River.

There are critical projects like that in every State. They improve our inland waterways to help deliver $600 million in goods and 60 percent of our grain imports each year.

If we want the United States to literally lead the world--if we want America first--for goodness' sake, we need to be first in investing in our infrastructure. These projects maintain levees and build reservoirs that protect millions of people and an estimated $1.3 trillion in property, and they protect the environment, they restore wetlands, and they prevent the spread of invasive species.

I am especially proud that this bill includes an important cost share change for the future operations and maintenance costs at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in my State of Illinois. I worked with Senator Tammy Duckworth on this project.

The Brandon Road project is integral to ensuring that invasive Asian carp never spread to the Great Lakes. Knock on wood. We have held up that carp from going into the Great Lakes and, in doing so, we have preserved an important part of the fisheries and the lake itself. I want to continue those efforts, if not redouble them.

While I am proud to support passage of this authorizing bill, I also implore my colleagues to remember that unless we are willing to work together--Republicans and Democrats--to provide these authorized projects with consistent and increased appropriations each year, then we are sending out press releases and not even getting the job half done.

Let me say it another way: It is not enough to go home and take credit for passing the WRDA bill, which is an authorization bill, if you aren't also willing to pass an appropriations bill that actually provides the money to break ground on these projects. An authorization bill is just that: It gives you permission to do a project, but then you need to go to the spending bill--the appropriations bill--to come up with the money to actually achieve it.

Listen to this number. I want to make this part of the record as we debate water resources and infrastructure. An analysis by the Roll Call newspaper from earlier this year found that while Congress has authorized more than $25 billion toward Army Corps projects in the last decade--$25 billion in the last decade--Congress has only appropriated $689 million. So $25 billion authorized, $689 million appropriated. What percentage of money have we actually come up with to finish these projects? We have come up with only $689 million out of $25 billion--2.7 percent.

We send out all of these press releases congratulating ourselves about projects that are never going to happen. We send out the releases and say: This is going to be great for future generations. We are not doing it. We are not investing in America.

Slow and inconsistent Federal funding for these projects results in years of added delay and millions in added costs. Instead of funding new projects, we have to spend more on ongoing projects because Congress just doesn't get its act together--Democrats and Republicans.

I am proud of the work of the Appropriations Committee on which I have been honored to serve. Both sides of the aisle do work to get their job done in record time and ensure the Corps has stable funding for the next fiscal year, but this year's appropriations process should not be unusual.

Unless we as a Congress commit every year to getting our budget work done and appropriating these Federal dollars, we will never get ahead on investing in our infrastructure. Our competitors like China and others around the world are making massive investments in infrastructure not just in their own country but in other countries that are teaming up with them, with an economic vision for the future.

What is our goal? What are we trying to achieve right here in the United States, and how are we working to build our economy and create good-paying jobs for the future?

Our Nation's water infrastructure is in need of significant investment. The good bill we are considering today is just a step in the right direction, but an authorization bill without appropriation is just an empty press release.

I hope we can work together to ensure funding gets appropriated each year to actually complete these important projects.

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