Two Important Issues

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I have two issues to address in a minute.

One, is to bring attention to an excellent editorial which appeared yesterday in The Wall Street Journal titled: ``Biden and Ukraine Need a Senate Deal.''

The author, William A. Galston, states: ``Though Speaker Mike Johnson has reiterated his support for Ukraine aid, anti-Ukraine Republicans will likely pressure him to adjourn for the year without taking up the Senate bill.''

In fact, that has happened in real-time today.

The editorial goes on to say: `` . . . Mr. Biden should make clear that he is prepared to use his constitutional authority to call the House back into session.''

We take an oath to protect America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Putin's Russia is a real enemy to liberty. We do not want to be drawn into a greater war in Europe. We need to do our duty and pass assistance for Ukraine and strengthen our NATO allies.

The second reason I rise today is to talk about the introduction of the bipartisan Healthy Farms Healthy Watershed Act of 2023, which encourages volunteer USDA programs to apply to watersheds that are trying to bear the load of toxic algal blooms largely caused by dissolved reactive phosphorus and other pollutants.

Mr. Speaker, water is life. Please sponsor the bipartisan Healthy Farms Healthy Watersheds Act of 2023.

Mr. Speaker, fresh water is life. Today, I introduce the bipartisan ``Healthy Farms Healthy Watersheds Act of 2023.'' This Bill encourages voluntary USDA programs to strategically apply resources to maximize watershed health with existing dollars.

Increasingly harmful algal bloom (HAB) compromise water quality in all 50 states. These toxic blooms adversely impact human health, sink property values, damp tourism, waterfront business, and regional economies. Impacted areas are estimated to have spent over $1 Billion since 2010 to address and prevent HABs, this creeping green invasion.

A major cause of the harmful bloom is the loading of excessive levels of dissolved reactive phosphorus into lakes, rivers, and bays maliciously from megafarms and animal feeding operations and other pollution.

Despite federal agencies spending Billions to help farmers adopt management practices to improve water quality, the problem persists across America. Significant bodies of water like the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay are weighted down with this creeping green invasion.

A new strategy is needed to make current federal investments more efficient, and more effective. The Healthy Farms Healthy Watersheds Act focuses on troubled watersheds by directing Natural Resources Conservation Service resources toward the exact substances and sources that are contributing most to HABs.

I encourage my colleagues to support this important, budget-neutral, bipartisan, commonsense legislation.

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