Date: 2014-02-10
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 2431. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 2431. the National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2013. This vital program. known as NIDIS. was originated by my friend and former committee chair. Mr. RALPH HALL. in 2006. The program provides critical drought information to communities all across our Nation. Over the past three decades. it is estimated that droughts have cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars in economic impacts. Loss estimates from the 2012 drought alone run upwards of $70 billion. Moreover. the effects of climate change are anticipated to exacerbate this problem in many parts of the country. including my home State of Texas. Right now. California is experiencing its driest period in recorded history. Sixtyseven percent of the State of California is experiencing extreme or exceptional drought conditions. We all know that farmers and ranchers bear the brunt of these dry conditions. That hits the pocketbooks of every American as food prices do go up. but the damage is not limited to agriculture. For instance. in the West. conditions are again ripe for extreme wildfires that scarred more than 9 million acres last year. putting homes and properties in jeopardy. Tourism is suffering as water levels in lakes and rivers plummet and snow packs languish. leaving boats on dry land and skis in the attic. Communities are imposing water restrictions. and power plants and grid operators are taking a serious look at the emergency plans should water for cooling towers and hydroelectric dams fall short. If you look at the top five most expensive disasters in the United States since 1980. three of those are due to drought. The NIDIS program is intended to help alleviate some of the economic impacts of drought. Notably. one of the programs goals is to improve drought early warning. Advanced warning of impending droughts would allow States. localities. and farmers to better plan their activities so that the economic costs associated with droughts could be reduced or mitigated. In light of the scope of the economic impacts of drought. and the potential of the NIDIS program to lessen these impacts. I remain concerned about the authorization levels in H.R. 2431. My Democratic colleagues and I tried to modestly increase the authorization levels during committee consideration of the bill. but we were not successful. Every witness who has ever testified or spoken to our committee about this program has highlighted the need to improve the programs early warning capability. This isnt a goal that can be accomplished for free. It will take a sustained investment of additional funds to achieve results we desperately need. While I wish the authorization numbers in the bill before us today were higher. they are much better than the numbers in the Senate bill. which locks the program into a funding cap that is below current spending for the next 5 years. When the Federal Government is spending tens of billions of dollars per year to mitigate the effects of drought. I think it makes sense to spend a couple million extra dollars to try to reduce those massive costs to our taxpayers in our communities. It is pretty clear that in this instance an ounce of prevention will get us a pound of cure. In spite of these concerns. however. I support H.R. 2431 and the reauthorization of NIDIS. a program which provides crucial information to help our farmers and communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of drought. I reserve the balance of my time.