Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I commend Chairman Fleischmann for the hard work in the Appropriations Committee and this particular subcommittee and the good product that they put out.

I do have a slight adjustment I would like to make to it, even though the subcommittee was very generous in working with the Natural Resources Committee and other committees in getting the base text.

I rise in support of Westerman amendment No. 14. It is an amendment that I would describe as an intentionally punitive amendment, but with a just cause: to protect the integrity of the legislative branch and, more specifically, the House of Representatives.

My amendment reduces funding for the Bureau of Reclamation's policy and administration account to fiscal year 2022 levels. At the Bureau of Reclamation, the policy and administration account finances the agency's centralized management and administrative functions that are not chargeable directly to a specific project or program. This includes the Office of the Commissioner, the administration's political leadership of the agency.

You may be asking why the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources is here asking for an administrative funding cut to an agency under our jurisdiction. One of Congress' most vital responsibilities is oversight of the executive branch, making sure they are accountable to the American people. Congressional hearings are an important tool that we use to engage directly with administration officials and to conduct oversight on policy objectives, openly debate legislation, and spotlight waste, fraud, and abuse occurring in agencies.

These officials have an obligation to be responsive to Congress, engage in the oversight process, and be accountable to the American people. However, this administration, like many others from the past, on both sides of the aisle, chose to blatantly disregard this responsibility when they specifically refused to participate in a congressional hearing earlier this year.

There, we considered H.R. 215, Congressman Valadao's WATER for California Act. This legislation addresses the operation of the Central Valley Project, which is a Federal water project owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. This legislation is critical not only to the Central Valley but to our entire country's food supply. The legislation was important enough that it was included in the base text of this bill.

However, even with ample notification with an invitation sent 2 weeks prior to the hearing, the Bureau of Reclamation failed to appear at the hearing. The Bureau of Reclamation employs roughly 5,000 employees, so they clearly have the ability to send a representative. While written testimony was submitted the day before the hearing, this was a poor substitute for engaging with the committee members.

Non-Federal witnesses who appeared at the hearing repeatedly mentioned the Bureau of Reclamation, which daylighted the missed opportunities for dialogue between the agency and the people they serve.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I will again point out that this funding is for the administrative part of the Bureau of Reclamation. It has nothing to do with functions that are chargeable directly to a specific project or program.

The Bureau of Reclamation does oversee many important programs. We want to see those programs function properly, and we also want accountability from the executive branch. The executive branch's clear pattern of disregard for congressional oversight indicates an entitled leadership that lacks accountability to the American taxpayer.

It is not my goal to have to come to the floor and cut the budget of an agency because they refuse to respond to Congress, but what tools do we have when they will not even come to a hearing that is directly related to the work that they do and when they just act like congressional oversight is an annoyance to them and is nothing serious?

My amendment will send a clear message to the executive branch that blatant disregard for congressional oversight is unacceptable.

Mr. Chair, I hope this is a bipartisan sentiment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source