Date: 2009-04-23
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my friend. the gentleman from New York . for the time. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Water is the most essential and basic natural resource to sustain life. The single greatest factor that has contributed most to the spread of public health in the United States is access to clean water. Across the country. approximately 40 billion gallons of water are used each day for industrial purposes. for home landscaping. for personal hygiene. for thirst. and for many other uses. The average American uses about 100 gallons of water per day. As our cities and communities continue to expand. one of the greatest challenges faced by local governments is finding ways to sustain adequate clean water supplies to meet the growing demand. However. our knowledge about water resources and conservation is based on research conducted in the middle of the last century. The underlying legislation being brought to the floor now. the National Water Research and Development Initiative Act. will help bring our knowledge of water resources into this century by coordinating national research and development efforts to ensure adequate water supplies through greater efficiency and conservation programs. Specifically. the bill establishes an interagency committee to develop a national water research and assessment plan in coordination with State. local and tribal governments. and it will also coordinate all research development data and other activities related to water. and it will ensure the optimal use of resources and expertise by avoiding duplicity through better intergovernmental cooperation. I had the privilege during the last district work period of meeting with constituents throughout my district about issues that matter to them. No one mentioned anything related to this bill. Its an important bill. its an important issue. but there are other issues that are much more pressing. issues that. I think. we should be debating. instead of spending an entire week on a water bill that enjoys absolute consensus. bipartisan support in this Congress. We should be working on issues that really matter the most to our constituentsthe pressing and critical issues Americans deal with on a daily basis. For example. we could be working to help the people of our great Nation to rebuild their retirement. college and personal savings accounts. Earlier this week. the Inspector General of the Treasury Department released a report confirming the lack of oversight and accounting of taxpayer money in the TARP program. By the way. in my almost17 years here. Mr. Speaker. there is no vote that Im happier to have cast a "no" on than for that of the TARP program. I knew. the future would be lined with scandal. Less than onehalf of 1 percent of that TARP program has gone to the State that Im honored to represent. really Ground Zero in the housing crisis. Florida. Less than onehalf of 1 percent. Wall Street was more than taken care of. Yet. troubled assets. that was what we were told was the purpose of that legislation. troubled assets recovery. I dont think one troubled asset ha. been purchased. Those are the kinds of issues we should be dealing with. So the question I would ask you. why doesnt the majority address those critical issues? For example. bring forth legislation to increase transparency in that TARP program. � Water is an important issue. but we could bring it here summarily on suspension. It doesnt need to take a week -of the precious time of this Congress. By the time we finish debating this rule. Mr. Speakerthere is a clock there over your head and we see the minutes passingthe Federal Government will have spent over $400 million just during the minutes that have ticked during this debate. Thats four times what President Obama has asked his Cabinet to cut earlier this week. We could have spent this time helping cut Federal waste and reducing the debt being piled on our children and their children. Its another example of the issues that we should be debating in this Congress. Yet. instead of addressing the challenges that confront the American people. the majority has chosen to devote precious floor time and. in effect. to take an entire congressional week to consider a noncontroversial water bill. Thats the way this majority has chosen to run Congress. I reserve the balance of my time.