Zach Wamp

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the chairman and I thank the committee for an extraordinary product. I think this bill is worthy of our support. The staff has done an excellent job supporting the Members. I want to thank the Rules Committee for ruling this amendment in order because Mr. Davis of Tennessee and myself come to the floor today to offer the amendment to transfer $14 million from the Corps of Engineers regular account, their operating account, over to the construction account. And the reason is that we have on the Tennessee River the Chickamauga Lock, an aging lock with a real problem of concrete growth. We have known now for 15 years that this lock must be replaced. We are under construction. We're in the middle of construction. The cofferdam is virtually finished now, so the center of the river will be dried out in just the next few months. The stimulus funding allowed the purchase of the equipment--the steel, the gates--to go ahead and do the construction; but, unfortunately, only $1 million was requested for this project, which will not allow us to go forward. We must go forward. There are many priorities within the Corps of Engineers Inland Waterway System and they should all be supported as much as possible, but this one can't go forward. This amendment is really to transfer $14 million from the Corps expense account to the Corps construction account to be used for the purpose of awarding a lock construction contract for the Chickamauga Lock on the Tennessee River. The reason we have just taken the money from this expense account is to try to get this amendment adopted on the floor so when we go to conference--and I'm a longstanding member of this subcommittee, as is Mr. Davis of Tennessee, now a new member of this subcommittee--when we go to conference we can try to work this out, something that the chairman and the ranking member have expressed a desire to do at both the subcommittee level and the full committee level. We don't want to hold up the trains or cause any problems, but the $1 million would literally freeze us for a year with a lot of equipment, a lot of progress; and we're running out of time. This lock has to be completed and finished by 2014. We spent millions of dollars repairing the lock to keep the current lock open. We can't allow the Tennessee River to close to navigation and commerce. It would be the largest lock closure in the history of our country if we allowed this to happen. So it's of critical importance to continue to work with us, and I can't thank the chairman and the ranking member enough for their willingness to work with us. I want to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis).

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. WAMP. I thank the gentlelady. I'm proud that the United States Enrichment Corporation has been developing the highly advanced uranium enrichment technology for the American Centrifuge Plant in my district, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory facility. USEC's enrichment technology is very well established, the risks have been mitigated, and the technology is fundamentally sound. We should not allow a seemingly risk-averse loan staff at the Department to continually delay a decision on the loan application which will have the effect of terminating this incredible state-of-the-art facility. Would the chairman work with us to ensure that the program is run efficiently and effectively?

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. I just want to add to the gentleman's comments on this important issue of nuclear and its absence, really, in any impactful way in the legislation that comes before the House today. Our country built its first 100 nuclear reactors in less than 20 years. Today, we know so much more about this particular industry. We are so much more technologically advanced. Without question, we could build a hundred nuclear reactors in the next 20 years, and we would lead the world in this particular energy technology again. And it's troubling because, like the gentleman, I've been all over the world and all of these other countries look back and say, Why wouldn't the United States, like Japan and like France, take a lead on nuclear again so that they can show leadership on the reduction of carbon and this issue of climate change? That's the logical big step that we could take as a Nation. Yet many of the people who oppose coal in this body also oppose nuclear, and you cannot possibly achieve their own stated goals without it. And we could do this. Talking about jobs and a stimulus, that should be step one, is a bold nuclear agenda where we reprocess the spent fuel, turn 80 percent of it back into energy, and lead the world in the energy technology opportunities and industry in the world. The best chance for success is nuclear, yet it's not advanced near enough in this legislation.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank, actually, the Rules Committee yesterday for agreeing to this amendment coming before the House today. Mr. Sessions has persevered on this issue now for some time. He deserves great credit. It has tremendous potential, and I look forward to working with the chairman and Mr. Sessions as we go forward. I also support the amendment.

Mr. WAMP. I yield our time to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer).

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition, even though we support the amendment.

Mr. WAMP. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP. I thank my colleague from the State of Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) for this amendment. We support the amendment, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I claim the time in opposition but not to oppose this amendment but to support this amendment.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of our time. As we close the general debate on the 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, I want to tell a brief story because today the President of the United States is in Italy at the G- 8; and photographs show him with my friend, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, over the last couple of days. I have to tell you--I was with my friend, the Prime Minister, a couple of months ago here in Washington, and I asked him about the extraordinary challenges that our country faces today. And when I think of the men and women in uniform of our Armed Forces--and I know in my heart that that is truly what our country is all about, people volunteering, even sacrificing for each other--I said to Kevin Rudd, ``What's the attitude in Australia and around the world about these tremendous challenges that we face? And what do you think about the United States of America's ability to deal with these many challenges?'' He said, ``Well, we're optimistic. We've read your history. We understand how extraordinarily difficult it was during the Civil War and the great World Wars. We know that you came out of the Great Depression and that you have overcome extraordinary adversity. We've seen your free enterprise system, your brilliance and your innovation, and we know how resilient your people are. So we have great confidence that you will do it again,'' he said with a smile on his face. And I would just say to all those men and women that served us in uniform--because they are the true patriots of our time. Yet again, they stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us, and our veterans are our most important citizens--that the burden is on us to extend our way of life and preserve freedom and to try to secure our liberty. This is the challenge of our time, and the world is counting on us. This bill goes a long way to meeting these needs, and we do truly stand at the water's edge together today. There is a lot of rancor and division in the House over process in other appropriations bills, but not today. Today we come together to do what's right for our men and women in uniform, for our military installations around the world under every command, for our veterans and their families and for the quality of life of our troops. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP. I continue to reserve.

Mr. WAMP. I continue to reserve.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining on each side.

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

Mr. WAMP. Reclaiming my time, I stand with you, Mr. Chairman, and will work with Mr. Castle as well to resolve this matter in conference. I yield to Mr. Castle.

Mr. WAMP. I yield to the chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes and yield to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) for the purpose of a colloquy.

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

Mr. WAMP. I want to thank the chairman for this commitment and express my strong support for funding these renewable energy projects, compliment Mr. Buyer for his tenacity and perseverance here on this front, because I know that we can reduce VA's high energy costs with the use of these new renewable energy technologies. I look forward to working with each of you as we continue to advance renewable energy projects at VA facilities.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Indiana and the ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Mr. Buyer, for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to Ander Crenshaw from Jacksonville, Florida, who would be the vice ranking member if there were such a position, but he is an incredibly valuable asset on our subcommittee and has done just an extraordinary job this year.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, at this time I yield 3 minutes to the former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the current ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who also serves as a very valuable member of our subcommittee, Mr. Young of Florida.

Mr. WAMP. I'm running for Governor, sir.