Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer a simple amendment to save precious taxpayer resources and to reduce the amount of money spent on paying inefficient bureaucrats with a history of mismanagement and disorganization.

Specifically, my amendment reduces net outlays for the administration of the Army Corps of Engineers by $1 million from the fiscal year 2014 level, which reduces the budget authority in this bill for the Corps' administration by 2.25 percent. The Corps of Engineers received an overall increase of $25 million in the bill above the fiscal year 2014 level.

While I can support more funds going to worthwhile projects, I take issue when the Corps continually receives the budget request level for administrative officials who fail to curb their bad behavior and competently perform their jobs.

I would like to read a quick excerpt from the committee report for this bill that highlights some of the continued mismanagement from within the Corps of Engineers:

The Corps of Engineers has suffered several significant failings in recent years that have resulted in cost increases for projects, such as the massive cost escalation associated with the Olmsted Locks and Dam project.

In some cases, the administration has not requested authorization increases in time for the Congress to act before projects experience delays.

The committee enacted new requirements in fiscal year 2014 intended to address these problems, but to date--5 months after enactment--the Corps has not complied with the committee's directions.

In addition, the committee notes that the Corps still has not submitted a complete work plan for fiscal year 2014 nor complied with several other oversight initiatives necessary to safeguard taxpayer dollars.

Another blatant example of the administrative ineptitude within the Corps is the agency has now been working on one chief's report for a particular project in Arizona for 5-plus years now. Throughout the country, this is the norm and not the exception to the rule. This failure to perform even the most simple of tasks drives up the costs of projects and leads to projects not being completed in a timely manner.

Due to frustrations with these delays, Congress was forced to enact a provision that recently passed WRRDA that requires Chiefs' reports to be completed within 3 years.

Let me provide another example of mismanagement by the Corps in Arizona.

An important flood control project was initially estimated by the Corps to cost roughly $24 million. Now, several years past the deadline for completing this project, the total cost estimate for the project exceeds more than $100 million. I realize projects have issues sometimes, but this is a clear example of failed leadership within the agency. Unfortunately, mismanagement has become prevalent in the Corps for quite some time now. Several years ago, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, said the Corps is ``one of the most incompetent and inept organizations in all the Federal Government.''

One final example of significant malfunction within the Corps' administration was cited by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO had nothing but negative things to say about a Corps study justifying a $332 million project in the Delaware River. GAO found that the study ``was based on miscalculations, invalid assumptions, and outdated information.'' GAO found that projected benefits for this project were nearly 75 percent fraudulent.

With an almost $18 trillion debt that continues to grow, it is irresponsible to throw more money at a department that cannot manage its own affairs. My amendment does not reduce funding for important projects. Again, my amendment simply reduces net outlays for incompetent Corps of Engineers bureaucrats from the fiscal year 2014 level.

I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.

I thank the chairman and ranking member for their continued work on the committee.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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