Bill Shuster

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to H. Res. 385, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on the DeFazio amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?

Mr. SHUSTER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. Is the gentleman from Oregon prepared to close?

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the Chair, and I yield myself the remaining time. I also thank members from the other side of the aisle, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Bishop of New York, and their staff for all their hard work and for working together to produce a bipartisan bill, a bill that is full of policy, full of reform, a bill that is fiscally responsible and, I must say, is the most fiscally responsible WRRDA in the history of WRRDA. There are no earmarks, but we made sure that we did not cede any of our constitutional congressional authority to the executive branch, which I believe is very important for this body and for the Congress. As I have said, we have worked together in a bipartisan fashion in talking to the stakeholders at roundtables and in hearings and coming up with a piece of legislation, and I am very proud we have it on the floor today. Again, our thanks to Ranking Member Rahall, Ranking Member Bishop, and the entire staff on the minority for working with us so closely. Also, I would like to thank our staff for the long hours that they have put in, and my counterpart, Subcommittee Chairman Gibbs, for his efforts and his staff member Joe Price who worked so hard and also John Anderson, Geoff Bowman, Jonathan Pawlow, and Tracy Zea from the Water Resources Subcommittee. And in the front office, starting with the leadership of Chris Bertram, the staff director, and a special thanks to the deputy staff director and my long-time staff member Steve Martinko for ramrodding this through the committee--I appreciate his support--Beth Spivey, Matt Sturges, Jim Tymon, Jennifer Hall, Clare Doherty, Jim Billimoria, Justin Harclerode, Michael Marinaccio, Caryn Moore, Denny Wirtz, and Keith Hall. All of these folks put in so many hours to make sure that we have on the floor here today a very good product, one that I am proud to stand behind, and I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of H.R. 3080. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman from New Mexico and am committed to work with him.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce).

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds to respond to the gentleman. I appreciate the gentleman's leadership on it. I agree with him. We need to move forward to get these properties off the Corps' books, so we will continue to work with the gentleman to make sure we expedite this and make sure the Corps is eliminating things that are not important to their mission. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lankford), the distinguished Policy Committee chairman.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3080 was drafted in a bipartisan fashion. Our environmental streamlining provision in section 103 is a result of compromise. We have heard from many Members who are supportive of our provisions to implement what is commonly called the ``three by three by three process.'' However, in order for the Corps to have the flexibility to fit within the timeframes laid in section 101 of H.R. 3080, accelerating the environmental review process in section 103 of the bill is critical. The amendment seeks to undermine all environmental streamlining provisions in WRRDA. Regardless of the existence of backlog, streamlining environmental reviews is an essential reform, and I believe will help to reduce backlogs. Additionally, reforms in WRRDA provide opportunities for non-Federal interests and other private sectors to move projects forward with their own funds, providing incentive for accelerating these project delivery processes regardless of the availability of Federal funding. So I urge all Members to oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?

Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman, and all of my colleagues. At this point I would like to respond to them, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. One of the key principles in developing WRRDA was increasing transparency, accountability and congressional oversight without ceding constitutional congressional responsibility to the executive branch. WRRDA authorizes 23 vital water resources projects that have completed the technical review by the Corps of Engineers and have been recommended by the Corps of Engineers. The committee held a full committee hearing to review all the pending Chief's Reports on June 5, 2013. My position has been clear. In order to maintain our constitutional congressional authority, Congress must review the Chief's Reports and specifically authorize them. We cannot hand over our authority to the administration and the Corps of Engineers to self-authorize. Chief's Reports have been finalized on the three reports that the gentleman has questioned and will be reviewed and considered by the committee as we continue to work through WRRDA. To provide strong congressional oversight, I commit to holding a hearing at the appropriate time in the process so that the very important issues are fully considered and have the opportunity to be addressed. With that, I thank the gentlemen for engaging in colloquy, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHUSTER. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. SHUSTER. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) to control.

Mr. SHUSTER. I appreciate the gentleman from Massachusetts. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Denham) for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. SHUSTER. I reserve my answer until I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) for a colloquy.

Mr. SHUSTER. I would like to engage in a colloquy, but first, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise) for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold).