Extension Of Authority To Expedite The Processing Of Permits
Floor Speech
EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO EXPEDITE THE PROCESSING OF PERMITS -- (House of Representatives - December 08, 2009)
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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in qualified support of H.R. 4165, to authorize an extension of the Army Corps of Engineers' section 214 program. Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 allows the Army Corps of Engineers to accept and expand funds provided by non-Federal public entities to hire additional personnel to process regulatory permits.
Mr. Speaker, I say I offer qualified support for H.R. 4165 because while this legislation is needed, my colleague from Texas (Mr. Olson) has offered a better piece of legislation. Mr. Olson's legislation, H.R. 4162, will authorize a permanent extension of the program--not a 1-year temporary extension offered by H.R. 4165. The Congress has been forced to temporarily expand this program five times since it was authorized by the Water Resources Development Act in 2000, yet the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has heard from Members on both sides of the aisle supporting permanent extension of the 214 program.
I have heard no Member object to a permanent expansion of the section 214 program. The Corps of Engineers now has adequate experience in running the program, and recent Government Accountability Office observations concur with this assessment. Yet here we are again on the House floor moving a temporary extension of an excellent program.
Authority for this program expires on December 31 of this calendar year. If this program expires, the Corps will have to fire some regulatory personnel, reducing its ability to process permits in a timely manner.
I want to thank Representative Olson and Representative Larsen for their efforts on this issue. I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. 4165, but I do wish that we were passing a permanent, or at least a long-term, extension of the section 214 program today, not a temporary one.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, again, I do support H.R. 4165 and urge my fellow Members to vote for the bill. I appreciate Mr. Larsen. I know that he has worked hard on this in trying to bring the issue forward and provide a permanent fix.
My hope is that in the reauthorization of WRDA that we can all, as was mentioned, work in a very bipartisan way, because this is an entity that has worked very, very well. And I think all of us agree that it really is a success story. So hopefully we can work together, he and Mr. Olson and our leadership on the committee, so that we can provide for a permanent fix of the program, a permanent authorization, and not have to go through this every year.
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