lays before the house the following and rolled bill h r twenty five forty six in accessing a department of veterans affairs medical center in asheville north carolina at the child stewart's apartment and veteran affairs medical center finish business is further consideration of the veto message of the president on the bill h r fourteen ninety five which the clerk will report by title h r four hundred ninety five an act provides for the conservation and development of water and related resources to authorize the secretary of the army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harvard's of the united states and for other purposes the question is will the house on reconsideration pass the bill the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding general idea will suspend gentlemen is correct the house will be in order members take their conversations off the floor but members please take their conversations off the floor the house will be an order time as i may consume this is speaker and members it was a little over two years ago continue for one hour and the time has been equally divided is that the correct parliamentary procedure or order of business gentleman's correct thank you gentleman from texas  over two years ago that herrick and katrina and rita tore through the gulf coast and leaving a trail of tragedy and despair in their weight and live news report documented the disaster catastrophe the misfortune and the heartbreak of the of the affected communities even some of our colleagues who lost their homes many wondered how they could help these victims whose homes families in l destroyed in a matter of hours washington maybe geographically far away from louisiana mississippi and alabama and texas but it gives us no excuse for this myth these travails of the of those states we c merely look at these events through protective glare ruling on the face of these communities from far away we must be on the ground planning recovery and reconstruction to ensure the devastation next experience never happened again most of us have traveled to new orleans since the hurricane katrina to try and understand what needs to be done to help the region prepare for the future i have seen firsthand the devastation faced by the citizens of new orleans and the surrounding region on september the fifteenth two thousand and five president bush stood in new orleans louisiana in the dark of the night and stated throughout the area hit by the hurrican we will do what it takes we will stay as long as it takes to help the citizens rebuild their communities and their lives how is the towing the water resources development are consistent with this player we need to change how we deal with these events are fairly emergency planning should not consist of after the fact recovery we must institute prevention we cannot simply wait for tragedy after tragedy and then hastily truck and meals ready to eat our trucks of our water we need to truck and reform now prior to the hurrican the gov calls ahead but our patchwork of protection the wetlands that disappeared the buffer that could have reduced the rap of the winds and storm surge of katrina and rita had been vanishing this legislation authorizes the corps of engineers to begin the effort to replenish the coastal wetlands water two thousand and seven also closes the mississippi river gulf outlet commonly known as m goal taking a proactive step to help protect the people and the businesses of louisiana mississippi and the in tag of coal states the mississippi river gulf outlet was authorized to provide a shorter shipping channel from the gulf of mexico to new orleans yet the projected traffic for this car to never materialize unfortunately the outlet may have been substantially contributed to the severe flooding of the city of new orleans and the lower ninth ward due on the hurricane katrina water two thousand and seven is also essential to have to fulfill the president's commitment to rebuild new orleans even better and stronger than before the storm unfortunately by the two in this legislation the president is turning his back on the commitment to rebuilding this great city in vetoing the authorization for the court to raise and enhance protection levees surrounding the city of new orleans and to achieve a one hundred year level of protection some may think that investment in our nation's infrastructure should have a cost ceiling will never be contain this cause and here we do some of the word that investment in our nation's future should only cost so much where for those who make this argument concerning this bill urge them to study the recent past of this legislative body bill is not new as many times as we don't finish it cost goes up water two thousand and seven contains water resource projects that have been pending in the halls of this chamber for far too long watering resources legislation is most effective when authorized every two years even the executive branch department indicated that we need nineteen billion dollars every other year to bring this all the infrastructure up to par this hasn't happened the last bill was signed in two thousand by president clinton this bill clears a seven year log jam a larger bill is necessary to carry a larger load when president bush states that this bill is too costly he is not considering the time les this debate is not about whether this legislation could cost for fourteen billion dollars of this team billion dollars but about whether this legislation authorizes projects that reinvest in the nation's crumbling infrastructure mr speaker we do right by this country when we invest in its infrastructure regrettably we are falling miserably behind chamas when man percent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure india spends three point five percent and the us spends a meager point man three percent we must do better we don't want to situation where our beaches remain contaminated with open sewage the contaminants we pass this particular conference report on august first two thousand and seven the same day that the highway bridge at thirty five collapse in minnesota we sit on this floor considering investment in infrastructure the same time that emergency personnel were working the wreckage of a structure that unexpectedly is an unstable country cannot continue to put an arbitrary cost ceiling on investment in our public works if we do this on a regular basis we won't have to do that simply put this legislation is about meeting our commitments to the nation on protecting lives and livelihoods ensuring economic competitiveness in the global marketplace and restoring the nation's ecological treasures for example water two thousand and seven authorize the first three projects and the comprehensive everglades restoration plan the pic own strand indian river lagoon and the site one impound met project since two thousand all fifteen components of the comprehensive everglades reef restoration plan have been  cost have increased and even in my paper this weekend there was an article on how the everglades were disappearing florida's big cypress national preserve an everglades national park continue to be listed in the directors of our country's most endangered parks as the population of the state of florida has boomed land management has not kept pace this bill begins to journey to a better slaughter if safety and human protection are not good enough reasons to secure the passage of this legislation the president to consider our industry what are two thousand and seven seeks to improve our waters for our industry and i environment this bill authorizes seven locks and dams in the upper mississippi river as well as ecosystem restoration projects in the mid midwest region this bill doesn't take doesn't just address large water resources projects minutes mala projects contain within this legislation seeking to improve cities and small towns across the nation we'd like very much drinking bottled water to continue to be a selection and a choice rather than a necessity these projects do not make national hit land but they make a difference in the quality of life for those who live in these percentages without these projects many communities would be without necessary flood control ecosystem restoration and economic and public health necessities lastly mrs speaker i'd be remiss if apple to mention the flood control needs of madness we can balance the dallas floodway except sixteen hundred square miles of trinity river watershed right here runoff and safety move the water flood water through the city of dallas about virtually verge of levees that form both sad of two thousand feet wide flood way the flooding has been projected to flood the downtown area where all of the bases of icon amee the floodway levees protect the downtown dallas the senator from a potential flood damage lost two properties an infrastructure of eight billion dollars or more the twenty three miles of levees for the dallas what way were originally constructed by local interest in nineteen thirty two and reconstructed by the corps in one nine hundred sixty cents nine hundred sixty the upstream watershed has experienced exploding population growth which has significantly increased run all over wham that and antiquated interior drainage pumps and greatly reduce the flood protection afforded by the levee system maddis the flood control needs are great and like other communities across the nation they are anxiously anticipating the resumption of a predictable consistent and two year word or cycle speaker it is imperative that this congress sent a message to the american people today that we intend to make our nation's infrastructure a prat r t at urge my colleagues to join with me and vote yes and make an answer to structure p let me say at the outset i have supported president bush on many occasions in fact i pulled a list of some forty three measures in which i supported the president in an attempt to  sustain a veto but however today my colleagues i must respectfully disagree with his with president bush's veto of this important and long overdue water resources develop i believe it's far too important for both our nation and for my state of florida and again for all the projects that are in the backlog i'm disappointed the president and the white fs have decided to veto this legislation that includes many critically needed infrastructure and for structure and restoration projects for the first time you've heard this since two thousand the year two thousand congress will enact legislation authorizing and this is authorizing we are setting congress's priorities for authorization all of these projects in this bill must come back for approval for funding but this particular bill includes all of the water resource projects to restore our endangered eco systems across the country construct new levees dams rebuild our  beaches and work on other important water resources projects a signet again portion of the bill i might say deals with everglades restoration something that we've been working on for years and also another significant portion of this legislation deals on work and reconstruction of some of our water resources projects in the damaged gulf coast the coast of the united states there's been as you've heard a water resources bill introduced in every congress since two thousand however controversies always dash the hopes of proving a measure after i assume the responsibility for the ranking member of the house republican leader on the transportation infrastructure committee i met with the new chairman mr oberstar and i sat down and we tried to decide what our priorities and this is a great example of how this body should work this is a bipartisan measure mr oberstar this is his one of his priorities he'd worked on it for a number of years i came new to my leadership position but pledged to work with him and we did work together on this let me say also ironically i feel sad today that mr oberstar joining us our our our  hearts our thoughts and our prayers are with him is recovering from surgery yesterday which he had scheduled sometime in advance but he served the house for thirty two years before he became the chairman of the t n i he made a commitment a bipartisan commitment to work together and we did that and when you do that in this house you can achieve anything and in a few minutes we will achieve and override of the president's a veto because we work together in a bipartisan manner to rebuild our nation's  water resources let me say also that earmarks in this contains a number of projects and earmarks have gotten a somewhat tainted reputation and were criticized but what we did in what i tried to do it on the republican side was make certain that this was a transparent process every republican house project was publicly submitted publicly available for review and very carefully vetted in fact mr ober addresses what i believe are the important needs of our nation again i think this is a good bill that represents investment in america these investments will improve trade protect our homes our businesses from flood damages and from other of mother nature we've seen they'll enhance our quality of life by restoring aquatic ecosystems like in the state of florida with the everglades restoration this legislation ensures our ports and waterways remain viable in the international marketplace by authorizing critical navigational deepening projects maritime commerce is absolutely essential to the future of our economy congested and outdated puerto waterway is becoming a national economic issue and this bill addresses that economic problem products moving into our waters ways aid  our environment and lessen highway and rail congestion efficient waterways must be in fact an interim goal part of america's intermodal transportation system in this bill helps do that to maintain our place in the gold global economy the united states must have modern ports and waterways our ports and waterways need to be improved to handle a missional traffic and what's coming are mega ships a new class of larger liners freighters that are coming we have almost no ports that can handle that type of traffic this conference report addresses these needs in several ways including improvements to waterways and by my state of florida as well as in texas louisiana virginia and other areas in addition this bill authorizes seven new locks and other navigational improvements on the upper mississippi river the word a conference report authorizes critical projects to provide flood protection to millions of americans and we've all seen that if we neglect our waterway infrastructure our water protection system you've heard that that at that vantage we pay now or we pay later well i can tell you will pay much later if we don't protect ourselves from again reducing the potential flood damage that we've seen this bill includes many projects that protect our cities from floods and also from those coastal storms we've experienced the corps of engineers is the leader in planning and carrying out our environmental restoration projects and this conference by this conference report that we will override a veto on a few minutes is by far the greenest most environmentally friendly water resources development act this bill authorizes work on the everglades everglades everglades russ duration as i said has been talked about for years and it is a national ecological treasure that must be protected for future generations of americans i might say to that the restoration of the everglades is in partnership with the state of florida and i have a message from our republican governor charlie cris was handed meat to me earlier greetings from brazil where he's he's now with two hundred businessmen and the the republican governor of the state of florida is urging that we override the president's veto basically because of what i said about the everglades and other critical water infrastructure projects in the state of florida this bill does not as i said guarantee funding money will have to be appropriated to meet these  levels but it represents a critical commitment by this congress to restore again an ecological jewel in florida and water resources projects throughout the united states a addressed in the bill are policy issues that will improve how the corps of engineers actually conducts projects and that's also important there's a peer review process that i think is critical to monitoring and protecting whether the projects perform as designed and how the president is concerned that the conference report authorizes more projects that could actually be funded all of those projects may not ultimately receive funding from congress they have to come back to congress even after this authorization but it is important that we authorize through this conference report a good list of investments from which the congress can later prioritize funding finally i know the white house has expressed concerns with this bill however again the house bill in two thousand and five contains seven hundred eighty four projects the house bill in two thousand and seven that we were work to examine in a transparent manner the hopefully will restore some of the public's confidence in in this process and finally we have to realize that this bill since we haven't passed once since two thousand represents the equivalent of three word of bills when we had a back hundred eighty six we in fact funded eleven billion dollars worth of projects back in one nine hundred eighty six because we hadn't passed a bill in a long time so while i while i wholeheartedly respect the president's veto we as congress have a responsibility to provide for our nation's resources and infrastructure provide the leadership to get that job done and i urge members to support overriding the president's veto and reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the balance of his time general lady from texas mr speaker i yield to the gentleman from south carolina i might yard if we have missed a climbing excuse me how much time to m the importance of this bill highlight it throughout my congressional district and this country part of my district has been labeled by some as a carter of sane communities bisected by interstate ninety five this region of problems originate in the water that mark and stick constituents are drinking in fact they tell me that at the turn of the last century life expectancy in this country was less than fifty years at the turn of the century life expectancy has reached over seventy years they say that this extension of life is directly attributed to the water there my constituents or the people in this country drink and beyond the health issue this is also a safety and natural disaster issue this bill authorizes funds for our coastal communities throughout the country that are susceptible to hurricanes and flooding this legislation also reaffirms this congress is commitment to hipper and our brothers and sisters who had their lives shattered by hurricanes katrina and r this bill authorizes close to two billion dollars for coastal restoration initiatives along the gulf coast so i encourage my colleagues to vote to override this veto because in doing so you  out in the health and physical wellbeing of millions of americans thank you for your back about my time gentleman yield back gentleman from florida and pleased to recognize one of the leaders in the transportation infrastructure committee lady jane lady from michigan this morning for her how long for two and a half minutes and her two and a half minutes you know ladies recognize thank you and i certainly thank the gentleman for yielding and i appreciate his a very hard work on this bill as well as the chairperson of the t n i who unfortunately has been mentioned has not been able to be with us today but we've had great leadership into the chairperson of the water resource and the committee as well mr speaker i rise today to express my incredible disappointment of the president's veto of the water resources development act because there was an enormous amount of bipartisan work that went into crafting this bill as was demonstrated actually by the overwhelming support it received in both chambers for final passage the president says this bill spends too much well fair enough until you consider that this bill actually spend nothing it simply authorizes and the actual appropriations for every project will have plenty of time for discussion on the merits before approval th congress has not passed the word a bill since one thousand nine hundred nine it is long overdue and it addresses critical water projects and related infrastructure throughout our nation that i believe we need to invest in to keep america strong and healthy the members are talking today about various projects in their part of the country so let me just mention a few in my area the great state of michigan also known as the great lakes state not just because our magnificent great lakes are a huge economic impetus for us or because our quality of life is predicated on them but in fact because they are very identity and keep in mind and the great lakes actually comprise twenty percent or one fifth of the fresh water supply of the entire planet and that they are facing historic low water levels that they are being inundated with invasive spacy species and that they are suffering from chemical spills and billions of gallons of raw sewage that are being dumped into them this bill authorizes funding for the like think claire think clever management plan it authorizes building electronic barrier at the chicago diversionary canal to keep asian carp from coming up into lake michigan from the mississippi river it authorizes funding to stop the spread of the h s which is a bolo like virus that is in fact in some of the fish in the great lakes and it authorized studies on how water diversions may be contributing to the historic low lake levels mr speaker i like to think about myself as a fiscal conservative but part of that i believe it means being able to clearly make choices about priorities spending in my mind these on this legislation as well as chairman oberstar chairman michael and the ranking member of the subcommittee mr speaker i rise today in strong support of the resolution to override the president's veto of the water resources development act overriding the president's veto is extremely important as this legislation addresses what the congress and the administration failed to do in previous years an act of word a bill that addresses the critical infrastructure needs of our country were it authorizes projects from major flood control navigation environmental restoration and other water resource projects as well as includes authorisations of several important projects to restore an enhanced the nation's environmental infrastructure the united states transportation system has an extensive system of highways ports locks and dams and airports yet we continue to neglect upgrading and modernizing our infrastructure we shouldn't build our infrastructure and then walk away without maintaining and modernizing it as it becomes an equated like we have done with the upper mississippi in the illinois water ways lock and dam system in this word a bill we're authorizing the upper mississippi and l and i waterway system the bill authorizes the replacement of six hundred foot navigation locks with seven new twelve hundred foot locks to bring more efficiency and effectiveness to our water transportation system our current system loses about ten percent of its capacity due to the systems failure and breakdowns because it's exceeded if it's life expectancy by over twenty years it can't handle the traffic in an efficient and cost effective manner and it's costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to patch it together every year let alone the cost in time and money to it users at a time when we continue to spend twelve billion dollars of the u s taxpayers money every month in iraq i can understand why the president would veto this important legislation you have to ask the question how can we afford to spend billions of u s taxpayer dollars to rebuild the infrastructure in iraq but can't afford to invest in our own infrastructure right here at home this bill is seven years overdue our infrastructure needs are growing the president's veto message talks about priorities i believe that the future of the u s economy and the living standards of our people should be our top priorities this bill will help our farmers get their crops to market protect critical habitat and provide flood protection for our people modernizing our infrastructure is the right thing to do it is a necessity for our economy and commerce and we therefore must override the president's veto today mr speaker i strongly support over rising overriding the president's veto of word of an urge my colleagues to do the same and yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back gentleman from florida development act in urge all members of this chamber to vote to override the presidential veto when brentwood benjamin franklin stated announce a prevention is worth a pound of cure he very well could have been speaking about the louisiana coastline for years years we've been losing acres of coastline now why is this important the louisiana coastline is critical critical for energy infrastructure in this country it's critical to support the maritime industry that supports this an energy infrastructure and without a water resources development act which is seven years overdue we are seeing our our coastline disappear this bill is a start it's a start to help us to ensure that we can protect our coastline from future storm surges to protect this coastline an energy infrastructure that so necessary for this country some of said that the bills too expensive well it is a seven year bill and it's an authorization it helps congress set priorities working with our states working with local officials in the scientific community particularly my state of louisiana to set these priorities so as to preserve our coastline and valuable water infrastructure throughout the country i'm very much pleased as well to see that the the bill has a peer review measures in it to make sure that we have independent peer review of major core projects the threshold i think was set at forty five million dollars but it also allows it to the chief to have certain flexibilities so it's not create unnecessary delays to these very valuable projects so with that this is a critically important veto for this long of a jew legislation we've not had a word of bill in over seven years if hurricane katrina taught us anything it is that investing in infrastructure is a crucial component of repairing for emergencies seven years is p close to an entire generation without a national overarching water policy in my home town of sacramento where all too aware of the importance of investing in water projects we live at the confluence of two great rivers the american and sacramento sacramento is the most at risk river city in the nation and we know that we must be vigilant in our efforts to increase our side protection this bill marks a significant step in our efforts to increasing the security of our nation for generations to come to be clear mr speaker we need this bill in sacramento and the nation needs this bill after years of inaction the bipartisan word a bill we have passed comes not a moment too soon there should be a word of the old coming out of congress and signed by the president every two years unfortunately the president has turned his back on assuring the safety and security of the american people this strong bipartisan legislation will take significant steps to improve our flood protection and invest in the future health of our communities in sacramento we know exactly how important this bill is to our safety and i look forward to voting to override the president's veto today i want to com minutes i think the gentleman for yielding and i i want to thank the president for vetoing this bill we republicans promised a new era of fiscal responsibility and i don't think it's very fiscally responsible to add seven hundred fifty million in earmarks in the conference report alone the senate passed a fourteen billion dollars war to build the house passed a fifteen billion dollars worth of bill in the conference came back you would think that they'd split the difference maybe fourteen point five but no came back at twenty three billion dollars so fourteen billion fifteen billion you cover buys and you get twenty three billion there's something wrong with this picture so i think that to a should sustain the president's veto we need to be  responsible not just with appropriations but with authorizations as well we simply can't continue to add to the backlog of projects that are already out there simply mean that more will go unfinished and priorities will be diverted  doing studies that will never be done so i applaud the president for vetoing this bill and i urge my colleagues to sustain that veto i yield back gentleman yield back gentlewoman from texas alyona to the gentleman from new york mr bishop two and a half minutes gentleman is recognized for two and a half minutes thank you mr speaker i thank the gentle lady for yielding and i also thank her for her leadership on this very important bill mr speaker a congressional override of this presidential veto is absolutely imperative to ensure the safety and viability of our nation's water infrastructure for the president to veto this legislation under the guise of fiscal responsibility is hypocritical at best for the president's endless war in iraq is now in excess of six hundred billion and counting just the interest on the amount we have borrowed to fund the war is twenty five billion dollars per year and amount that exceeds the authorized level of this legislation this seato is a stark reminder that the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war in iraq have been that the expense of pressing priorities here at home in the five years since the war began over forty five billion has been spent on restoring the infrastructure in iraq this is double the twenty three billion dollars price tag a bipartisan majority of congress seeks now to address a seven year backlog of much needed projects when it comes to domestic priorities the president has decided against investing in america he's vetoed expanding health care for children he's vetoed research for life threatening diseases he's vetoed benchmarks for iraq and has threatened vetoes on investments ranging from education to law enforcement are these the priorities of america or are they the misplaced priorities of an administration hopelessly out of step with the american people mr speaker the water resources development act benefits all americans and their families who use and enjoy our nation's waterways my district benefits from the good work that the army corps of engineers does for coastal communities by helping small towns deal with multiple concerns ranging from erosion to long standing environmental challenges mr speaker h r fourteen ninety five will go a long way toward supplying the corps with the resources it needs to protect coastal communities by modernizing project planning and approval we simply cannot afford to let another year go by without passing this legislation i urge my colleagues to from indiana mr pence for one and a half minutes gentleman's recognized for one and a half minutes i thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding and for his courtesy speaker in two thousand and six the american people looked at a sea of debt and deficit spending and said anough is enough and president bush got the message in using his veto pen in the water resources development act president is exercising the fiscal discipline that the american people demand of this congress but the question today is did the congress get the message even the washington post said and i quote this last sunday mr bush is a little late in trying to recover his party's reputation for fiscal conservatism but they go on to say he's right after all the senate and house versions of the legislation tipped the scales at fourteen billion and fifteen billion respectively and the compromise th lawmakers came together with is twenty three billion dollars the american people long for a congress and a national government that will embrace fiscal discipline and reform i urge my colleagues respectively support the president's veto say yes to a renewed commitment to fiscal discipline and reform and i yield back gentleman yield back the gentlewoman from texas thank you mr speaker i now yield one minute to a fiscally conservative game sometimes but don't play a fiscally conservative game but let me tell my friend this expenditures are both domestic and non domestic and my friend is leaving it with mr flake i guess i'm not going to talk to him about it but the previous speaker spoke about fiscally conservative actions this has sent down to us a request for a hundred ninety six point four billion dollars in expenditures not in anchorage not in baltimore not in mississippi or california one hundred ninety six four point four million dollars billion dollars for baghdad and kabul but he says water resources development is too much for america he doesn't pay for a single cent of that hundred ninety six point four billion dollars not a cent but he says in order to develop the levees to save new orleans that's cost us billions of dollars because they were inadequate or to build bridges that don't fall down in minnesota he says it's too much money and i understand the word it doesn't cover bridges but the point is it covers investment in our country madam speaker like most of me like most of our house colleagues i'm deeply disappointed presidents chosen a veto the water resources development act it is critical to the health of our people to economic development in this country and the safety of our communities the world a conference report which passed the house and senate by overwhelming bipartisan votes three hundred eighty one members of this house said investment is good for america and in the senate eighty one senators said this investment is good for america because it makes critical investments in our nation's water resources and infrastructure and short this conference report will enable the army corps of engineers to maintain our federal shipping channels preserving jobs and bolstering the economy it will allow the court to work with states and local communities unnecessary environmental restoration projects and it will permit the court to ensure the safety of our citizens by shoring up our aging levees dams and reducing the possibility of flooding furthermore this conference report makes specific investments in the gulf coast which were so damaged by hurricanes katrina and rita i see my friend mr malone so on the floor of this house he knows how critical this funding is for his region and for america for example it would restore a ways and it's coastal wetlands which provide increased arcane and storm damage protection which ultimately will save us billions of dollars it would raise an enhanced flood protection of the levees surrounding the city of new orleans and it would make and improvements to the drainage canals that significantly contributed to the flooding of new orleans during hurricane katrina many of us been there and seen that damage unfortunately despite the beneficial investments called for in this conference report the president has chosen to stand in the way of this bipartisan legislation this overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation in an attempt to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility fiscally responsible people invest in their future fiscally responsible people maintain their infrastructure fiscally responsible people know that clean water safe harbors aid our commerce and the health of our people that is conservative investment let us be clear the president wants to make a stand fiscal responsibility this is the wrong bill to have done so the word a conference report is a multi year authorization through which congress would appropriate about two billion a year for the corps to undertake important projects furthermore this conference report reflects a backlog of seven years a project request because one hundred seven hundred eight one hundred ninth congress failed to enact a water resources bill ladies and gentlemen of this house let us fulfill our promise to communities all across this nation not to baghdad not to  the cities and states that i mentioned let us meet our responsibility a vital fiscally responsible investments it projects in the projects that facilitate commerce and economic development provide eco system restoration and protect human life and property let us exercise the responsibility that the constitution of the united states gives to us and that is to set policy and invest the resources of our public in a better future for our country vote to override this mistaken they do jamming us back gentleman from florida mr speaker i'm pleased to yield at this time to one of the well the really the senior member of the transportation infrastructure committee and the former immediate past chair that came at a distinguished gentleman from alaska for three minutes mr young gentleman is recognized for three minutes i ask and i was invited to extend without objection i want to thank the ranking member mr mike and congratulate him on his good work on this legislation this is a good bill  all the previous speakers i'm not here to be up the president i'm here to say this bill should be passed we should override the president's veto because it's right for america it is an investment and we're way behind in this investment some that said well we start out was so a certain amount of money on our side the senate had certain amount we came out with more frankly i think it should be about forty billion dollars and i say this with a little bit of experience we did the same thing in the highway bill it should have been three hundred seventy five billion not two hundred eighty five billion because they'd as an investment in the future in the infrastructure to provide the economy for this country that creates the jobs and makes this competitor worldwide without this bill we will lose without this bill will not be able to achieve those goals will not save people's lives more than that the next crisis we're facing this country is our water the use of our water the water to use correctly for and my friend chairwoman johnson as well as mr mike i miss the dock and for their hard work in completing this long awaited below these water projects extremely important to my home state of florida and for the nation as a whole and have been held put america back to work improve our communities and create economic activity this legislation will also ensure that workers up pay a fair rate for their hard work it is these workers taxes that for these projects and they deserve a fair ways that allow them to adequately put that for their family but let the lay of the past this much needed legislation in above that we do in a disservice to the people we represent like so many americans it is hard for me to understand how president bush can win six hundred billion dollars on his nobody in their war but yet veto twenty three billion and by the water and civil work project what the state is in town right here in america this is just one more example of how out of touch this administration is they live in a bubble i encourage my  this time to yield to gentleman who i have the greatest respect for he is also the ranking member of the water resource committee then an excellent job on this that they're working in a bipartisan yield five minutes to our ranking member the gentleman from again from louisiana mr baker gentleman is recognized for five minutes thank the gentleman for his courtesy in yielding time and certainly want to express appreciation to my chairman of the subcommittee for her good work and her bipartisan work in this and many other subjects as well as extending our best wishes to chairman oberstar and his speedy recovery i am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this matter is a member from louisiana in fact it is reminds me of a circumstance where a fellow went to the lumber yard to buy some two before his and when the vendor at the lumber yard asked well how long do you need him the fella said we'll need him for a long time i'm building a house that's the way we feel about the word a bill where you've been wanting this for a very very long time there are many members whose handiwork is evident in this bill preceding me many members of our delegation but i certainly wanted knowledge the work of mr bustani from southwest louisiana who has been so adversely impacted by the storm many have forgotten call rita and he has worked mightily to make sure his constituents needs are met and i wish to put a different face on the adoption of this build and perhaps others have characterized there will be many in the aftermath to say well if you throw pork in front of a congressman you know what's going to happen and that's unfortunate in the case of louisiana this is not a matter of political convenience many people who will benefit from the seven billion dollars or so that are in this bill would never be able to vote for me anyway  bill provides for construction of sixteen different hurricane and coastal reclamation projects which have literally been vetted for over decades and so these have been subject to public discussion local government state government corps of engineers examination and we're we have been ready to go for many many years this is not about a matter of political convenience or economic development this is really about preservation of a culture in our in our country that is so vital in our oil and gas and natural resources development from the rockies to the apple a shins every drop of water runs through the mississippi system and runs right through the of louisiana out into the open waters of the gulf and in order to protect people from the ravages of the rivers annual flooding the corps constructed enormous levees which throws all that sediment now out into the deep waters of the gulf and the result of man's own engineering is that we are now subject to the ravages of coastal destruction particularly in the heights of the hurrican season one storm does more damage in a few hours than a decade long of natural forces and we are at our ropes in some estimate we have less than ten years to act the bill before us although merely an authorization will make available to us a wide scope of projects which it really will take decades to complete but i for one and i'm sure other members of the louisiana delegation will state to this congress we are deeply indebted to this congress for taking this action and as to the disagreement with the president i've had many disagreements with my president i've had disagreements with other presidents that's nothing new for us this is just a difference of opinion and i'm sure we will all have differences of opinion as we move forward through the legislative process and i am glad that in this instance we have found a way to act from committee to floor through the united states senate in a bipartisan manner and produce a product that is beneficial to the entire country i hope you will join with me in overriding this veto and sending this important measure on to the corps of engineers and to the states for implementation as soon as is practicable are you back gentleman yield back generally from texas thank you this is speaker i yield to manage to the gentleman from like people that have not been affected by katrina and rita have been supportive of louisiana today i ask everyone to join in supporting one of the most critical bills the louisiana recovery and future the water resources and development act contains several critical authorization destroying thousands of on thousands of homes and businesses also authorising words comprehensive arcane protection system known as mar ganz of the gulf a sixty four mile system of levees locks plug gates and they're all plan to help the people of this region marg and it would offer hurricane protection to about one hundred twenty thousand people in south louisiana who currently have no defense against storms and are like sitting ducks in the path of the next hurricane this hurricane protection system is so critical and the local communities have been taxand cells for years to build the system it is imminent that we get this bill passed but they need the federal government to be a partner in this project and anxiously follow the progress of word of for years hoping to pull authorization from organza word also authorizes funding to bring federal levies and south the food levee district up to the hundred year protection level creating better hurricane protection to residents in the bush parish which is home to one of the law just energy corridors in this country this area has also been tax in itself for years in addition to these vital hurricane protection project word includes a comprehensive coastal restoration plan that will authorize projects to rebuild the protective wetlands along with janis goes when i travel across south louisiana i see with my own eyes our rich marshes and wetlands and how the disappearing louisiana lose a football field sized piece of land to the sea every thirty five and it's during hurricane season a but let me just close by saying that i am appreciative for everything that the members of congress who have supported our needs in south louisiana and the gulf coast of this united states and i asked one big they are today please vote to override this all important piece of legislation thank you gentleman yield back the gentleman from florida mr speaker first i want to yield myself one half minute for the purpose of an entered direction and then i'm going to yield three minutes to the individual i mr speaker and my colleagues it is now one of the greatest pleasures i've had to introduce a gentleman who i got to know for a brief period of time he came into this house and he's done an incredible job of representation at a difficult time for his state of louisiana had the chance to go down with him and look at infrastructure projects after the damage and i think the people of louisiana colleague from florida for that generous introduction for yielding time as well mr speaker we've heard now from i think about every member of louisiana's delegation heard from both parties telling us how important this bill all is for louisiana's future so many of us saw after the disaster storms of two thousand and five hurricanes rita and katrina both storms so many people wondered would have been more effective to have prevented to have defended against that damage in the first place and indeed we heard and recited numbers  familiar to residents of louisiana for example knowing that every couple of miles of healthy wetlands reduces tidal surge by a foot we heard for example for years there's been works there been projects in the works to raise the levees around new orleans we heard for example that for years there have been studies after studies on the morgana of the gulf and other hurricane protection projects and what we saw that awful year was incredible destruction incredible loss of life we also have learned and we've seen that every year in louisiana loses thirty miles a year off our coast that year alone we lost two hundred miles off our coast many of the nation's best environmental scientists say that now is the time to act not just for louisiana but for america well he has home to thirty percent of the nation's fisheries thirty percent of the nation's energy production comes off louisiana's coast investing in restoring louisiana's coast is important for the people of louisiana but it's also important for the people of the entire country all over the united states now as we rebuild from the storms i certainly want to thank my colleagues on both sides for their continued support for their generosity but that is the reason i stand today to ask for your continued support by voting to override this veto of this very important piece of legislation in terms of louisiana's ongoing recovery passing the word a bill is one of our three top priorities in addition to full funding of the road home program as well as continued support  offshore revenue sharing so that we can repair our coast repair our levees make our people safe i've heard several colleagues on this house floor democrat and republican talk about the need to encourage people to come back to south louisiana talk about the need to help businesses come back help hospitals and medical offices open their doors help schools reopen again we're thankful for the help that's already been provided to make those things possible more help is needed but all of that is dependent on making people safe all of that is dependent on guaranteeing to the people of south louisiana that they can be safe living and working in their communities the ward a bill takes a huge step forward whether it's the hundred year flood protection authorization for the the greater new orleans area whether it's a more ganja the gulf project whether it's the port projects these are incredibly important hurricane and flood protection projects this is a bill long overdue this house is accustomed to passing award a bill every couple of years this bill is over seven years minutes thanks to revise and extend mr speaker i want to thank the gentle lady for yielding the time usually i stay within the subject matter of my committee but thirty years ago i used to work for something called the cleveland regional s district it was actually water development and i thought it was going to be environmental lawyer and i thought how much money and how much help was brought to the city of cleveland by the federal water pollution control act where we were able to build sewage treatment plants to treat water all across the northeast ohio this is a comparable bill against communities an opportunity to make better what's not in such good shape at a point back in those days we had a river that was suffering a lot of things that were going on in the why the money that came in to northeast ohio made a real change about how water how like your was doing an opportunity so i rise today to encourage my colleagues across the aisle all my colleagues to support this important legislation and override the veto not only in louisiana do we need this out but we needed in northeast ohio where we have our roles in occurring on properties in small communities we need it and michigan we need it all across the country and what better way to do that job and also will put america back to work less invest in our infrastructure ladies and gentlemen all my colleagues i encourage you to vote to override the veto and support of this water resources act and i thank the gentle lady and the tears for the time generally to yield back gentleman from florida i will continue to reserve until the last gentleman reserves gentle lady from texas thank you mr speaker and now you are one minute to the gentle lady from texas miss jackson lee general he's recognized for one minute extension i asked my colleagues to vote against the president's veto and therefore override the veto as i call the roll see to buy you texas part of galveston houston ship channel bayport cruise channel just sent to a port the upper white oak by a buffalo bio and hauls bio all impacting people lives people's lives all of them impacting residential areas and in particular we need to vote to override the veto because a thousand five hundred homes in my congressional district are now being asked in essence a to leave their homes because they are in a flood plain and part of the work that this water bill will do will help to save the homes of these hardworking houstonians and americans this is a good bill this is a bill to get people back their lives and their property and i ask my colleagues to vote to override the veto i yield back general ideals gentleman from florida understanding that this johnson will close i will deal myself the balance of our time down is recognized now mr speaker and my colleagues we come to the close of the debate on overriding a presidential veto and today indeed it has been a strange day at this interesting thing about politics and government in the united states of america look at the people who have spoken here  e president's efforts to maintain fiscal responsibility supporting an override of his veto but this is a very difficult job it's a difficult job for me it's a difficult job for the president i think we'd like to do everything we can i think it's in the heart of the other side of the aisle and i know in the heart of my fellow republican members to do as good a job as we can and representing people and i know the president  has had to make some difficult choices coming into office with the events of september eleventh and the terrorist threat that we face as a line drawn in the sand by cut in iraq and national security is our primary responsibility but we also have responsibility to our infrastructure so we've tried to sort out those priorities in this process we do need an investment in our infrastructure the president is right and probably his stance i think we are right in our stance and this is an authorization bill this is not a spending bill that does prioritize for the congress  bills that have been carefully considered and projects that have been considered by members and members make very sincere requests based on the conditions of their particular districts that it is a great system and it does work so i understand the president's commitment to fiscal responsibility and i think we've tried to act in a responsible and good stewards fashion in closing i again want to thank mr unfortunately he's not with us today on this day that he work so hard for now thank mr johnson thank you mr baker ranking member all of those who work particularly the staff jim kuhn our staff director  overstuff for his tremendous leadership mr young and mr duncan mr baker and of course mr mica we have worked together for the last six years actually a little longer seven years on a bill to try to address these infrastructure problems throughout our nation this is the first opportunity that we really head to begin to address the many massive problems that we do have it gives no one pleasure to override any president because i was always taught to listen to both  but this tan mr speaker i believe it's a necessity we simply must begin to address these many many problems that we are facing if we had done what the executive branch  recommended we would have had at least nineteen billion in two thousand and one another nineteen billion in two thousand and three and another nineteen billion two thousand and then that the in one thousand nine hundred this year as it is twenty three billion is shot fifty fat billion so we're not addressing every problem but we're trying our best to prioritize and hopefully we can get back on schedule and thank you very much to the staff to all of the members both minority and majority because we've all been one of the other some of we've been majority and we've been minority and we still work together this bill hasn't changed  much no matter who was in a majority or no matter who was in a minority because we know that problems of this sort of really simple are not democrat or republican these are people's problems and we simply have the responsibility to address them and i would ask everyone to vote to override this veto thing generally the yields back her time all time has been yielded back without objection the previous question is ordered the question is will the house on reconsideration pass the bill the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding under the constitution the vote must be by the a's and nays members will record their votes by electronic device pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty this fifteen minute vote on passing h r fourteen ninety five the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding will be followed by five minute votes on motions to suspend the