Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 15, 2006)

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Chairman, this $7.8 million State Department amendment that I offer tonight on behalf of myself, Mr. Ortiz, and Mr. Reyes empowers you, Mr. Chairman, and you, Mr. Wolf, as our important subcommittee chairman, and the conferees to address a serious threat to the lives and livelihood of tens of thousands of Texans who call home an area along the southernmost tip of our country that encompasses three congressional districts.

Consistent with the rule under which this bill is being considered, these dollars would simply go to the State Department. But I believe in conference you would be able to clarify, consistent with tonight's debate, that it is designed to upgrade the Federal levees along the Rio Grande that are under the exclusive control of the International Boundary and Water Commission, an agency within the State Department.

Exactly 1,018 days ago, the administration received what was really an alarming report from within its own State Department that our Federal levees along the Rio Grande are up to 9 feet deficient in height, geologically flawed, structurally unsound, and would overtop along some 38 river miles. We know that the time to make repairs is when the sun is shining, not when the flood is coming. The kind of wall that we need along our borders, along our southern border, is a wall to hold in a swollen Rio Grande river. A levee.

What do the levees' weaknesses reported by the State Department mean if you live in the Rio Grande Valley? Well, this is an aerial photo of much of that area. It includes the poorest SMSA, statistical metropolitan area, in the United States: Mission, McAllen, Pharr, and Hidalgo. Hardworking people, small businesses, mission hospital, nursing homes, schools, Balboa Acres neighborhood, along with many others. That is what they look like today on an aerial photo.

What happens if the levees' break? That is what they will look like. They are going to be underwater. And the best way to reach these places is going to be by boat. If the Federal levees are not maintained adequately, and they have not been maintained adequately according to the State Department itself, we will lose 80 percent of our fresh water supply in McAllen, Texas. We will lose two-thirds of the sewer system, which will become unworkable.

That is what we call an emergency, as in emergency supplemental appropriations, in south Texas. We believe that the need is urgent, and that is why some 39 local governments across our three congressional districts, Chambers of Commerce and economic development corporations have pled with the administration to respond to this need.

Last year, under the leadership of Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Mollohan, the State Department appropriations bill that this Congress passed called on the President for additional funding. Afterwards, Chairman Wolf and Mr. Mollohan wrote Secretary of State Rice a letter asking for support for rehabilitating these levees, recognizing how many people would suffer if they were not rehabilitated, and noting from their letter, that ``this impacts the safety of the citizens of the Valley.''

Of course, the Valley levees are not the only levees in the country that have problems. I know, Mr. Lewis, that your own State of California has concerns in Sacramento. I would say to you that our situation is unique and different in several particulars. This flooded area, with deficient levees, are exclusively Federal levees that only the Federal Government can remedy because they are along an international border under the control of the State Department.

Second, we are in a hurricane area, a high hurricane area. Last year, we ran out of names we had so many hurricanes, and this year promises another severe hurricane season. But for the fate of nature, the hurricane that hit New Orleans could just as easily have tacked west instead of tacking east and caused just the scenario that is displayed here tonight on this aerial photo.

What I propose, Mr. Chairman, is to add about half a percent, less than the increase that the chairman just agreed to for the last amendment, about half a percent to the $1.3 billion in the State Department, and ask that you clarify in conference that it is to meet a need that I know you are aware exists, and I believe you are trying to respond to. And I believe the State Department recognized and wanted that in this emergency appropriations bill, but somewhere in the bureaucratic process this was not included.

I know that there is more work we will be doing together. I appreciate the meeting that was held today with representatives from south Texas concerning this problem with Mr. Wolf's staff and the meeting we will have tomorrow with the International Boundary and Water Commission. We have our request coming up in the regular appropriations process. But without an emergency appropriation, I believe that the Federal Government really is not meeting its responsibility, a responsibility to the lives and livelihoods of the good hardworking people along the Texas Rio Grande Valley.

That is all this amendment is trying to do, knowing that it could be this summer in hurricane season, it could be next year or the year after. Every day, every month we delay, a thousand days has been enough, and that we need to move forward in addressing this concern now. I thank you.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

I am kind of surprised the amendment came up, to a certain extent. The gentleman from Texas, not this gentleman, but the gentleman he referred to, just came into town, and I have not had an opportunity to talk to him. I thought I was going to get to talk to him, and we felt that we were going out of our way to help.

The President has been requesting funding for the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control project for years and has again requested funding in the President's budget for 2007.

There are other areas of the country that have this problem, and so to do it here and not there, and there are gang problems around the Nation. Let us forget the full bills and put everything into the supplemental and so we can just have one big supplemental and not have to pass any other bills.

But to go through the normal process, the gentleman from Texas brought the issue of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control project to my attention last year. As a result, we included language in the IBWC account directing more funds be provided above the President's request for this project.

A week ago, the gentleman talked to me about additional moneys for the project in the fiscal year 2007 process. Funding for the International Boundary Water Commission should be addressed in the regular bill. This request does not belong in an emergency supplemental, and I urge a ``no'' vote on the Doggett amendment.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. DOGGETT. I respect the subcommittee chairman's comments. I do not think he or the Appropriations Committee or the chairman of the full committee are the problem. They recognized this problem last year when they asked the State Department to take additional action. The State Department took additional action, and I believe they asked to be included in this emergency appropriations bill.

We need help in the regular appropriations cycle. We will need that help not just this year but every year for probably the next 10 years. It is a modest amount. All we are asking for is $7.8 million to add to the $2.2 million that was appropriated last year, the $10 million a year that this part of the State Department has been saying since 2003 that they need to avert disaster.

So tonight I would ask all of my colleagues to join with us in meeting an emergency with an emergency appropriation, and then we will strive to work together in a positive, bipartisan way to address what I know the committee recognizes to be a real, genuine, urgent problem.

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