Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 4553.
Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 21 is to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026.
My amendment No. 21 prevents the Army Corps of Engineers from closing campgrounds around Lake Lanier. My amendment will ensure that these campgrounds are open for my constituents and people from all over the country to enjoy the outdoors in Georgia's Seventh District.
Lake Lanier is the most visited lake of 464 federally operated lakes in the United States, with well over 10 million annual visitors from all over the country. The Army Corps runs the lake and the campgrounds and parks surrounding it.
This summer, the Corps closed many of the campgrounds around the lake, citing a lack of manpower and resources. Congress had provided $8.7 billion in annual appropriations for 2025, which was actually $1.5 billion more than the agency's own requested budget. They cited safety concerns and manning issues, which we addressed appropriately, although they announced the closures after they actually did it.
Thanks to the efforts of myself, Congressman Clyde, and our amazing local officials, State legislators, and county commissioners, we were able to reverse most of these closures and keep almost all of our parks open under the control of our local governments.
Congressman Clyde and I also introduced the Lanier Parks Local Access Act to cut red tape and allow local partners to efficiently allocate budgetary resources properly across all campgrounds.
Nevertheless, the Army Corps of Engineers should never be able to shut down our facilities without any accountability.
In today's day and age, where people are hooked on their cell phones and electronics, it is more important than ever to protect our outdoors so that our constituents can touch grass instead of a computer screen.
In short, citizens should never be denied access to the very parks that they fund.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, in order to address my peers' concerns, I will restate in the middle of this where I said specifically $8.7 billion in annual appropriations in 2025, which was $1.5 billion more than they requested. This is not underfunded. This is not declining. This is actually more than appropriate to keep those parks open.
They had a manning issue, which was brought on by themselves, by not manning when they had the appropriate funds. Then when the President put a limitation on that, we addressed that. It was opened up again. We actually helped them recruit and staff. We actually opened up to local governance, as well. It is not like we didn't provide multiple solutions to keep those campgrounds open.
They also have objections to safety issues because of the inability of safety vehicles getting to those places. Ironically, by limiting the access, the traffic is more congested and is made more unsafe.
I happen to be a safety officer, trained in Monterey in the military, to ensure these kinds of things were actually addressed. I want to make sure they are not only funded but also very safe and manned appropriately.
Mr. Chair, all those issues were actually taken into consideration. I don't think this is a partisan issue at all. I definitely want to see people have access to those very funded things. This actually produces funds. This actually is a moneymaker for the government and is well- funded and should be well-staffed.
There shouldn't be any objections to this from the standpoint of the concerns that my colleague has. I think we did address those things appropriately.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source