From Congressman Blake Farenthold
House enacts first bipartisan water resources reform bill since 2007
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the House overwhelmingly passed one of the most policy and reform-focused measures to address our water infrastructure needs in nearly two decades. Wednesday, we passed H.R. 3080, the “Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA),” the first water resources bill to clear the House since 2007. WRRDA will not only set our nation on a path towards prosperity by creating more jobs, increasing our competitiveness and promoting economic growth – but it will also improve our ports and waterways, crucial resources to the Texas coast.
WRRDA will better our ports while cutting red tape, growing the economy, and saving taxpayer dollars by eliminating government waste. By increasing the transparency of our transportation funding, this measure will ensure tax payer dollars are going towards only our nation’s most critical projects. WRRDA makes much-needed policy reforms but fosters fiscal responsibility at the same time.
Here are some of the key WRRDA provisions that will especially benefit Texas:
- Supports our ports and the Texans employed there. Texas is one of the country’s largest maritime states, and our ports directly and indirectly employ nearly one million Texans. WRRDA will modernize our infrastructure, strengthen our transportation networks and authorize needed maintenance of the ports along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
- Ensures Texas exports are being distributed to foreign countries in a cost-effective way and increases our trade relations. Texas ports rank number one in the nation for exports and our state is booming from new oil and gas technologies. WRRDA will ensure the products produced in Texas are going to markets world-wide efficiently and will grant more access to domestic exports of natural gas – boosting the economy and strengthening trade relations with our allies.
- Strengthens our nation’s defense. Three of our Texas ports are designated by the Department of the Defense as strategic military ports, providing deployment and distribution for military cargo worldwide. WRRDA will make investments in our strategic military ports to support our military operations and maintain a strong defense.
With Texas waterways expected to move over 766 million tons of cargo by 2030, it’s critical we strengthen our waterway infrastructure to ensure our coastal trading in Texas can continue to be one of the leading in the nation. The bipartisan action we took in the House this week will guarantee we meet that goal by making much-needed reforms to our waterway infrastructure and improving the ports and waterways vital to Texas.
What Went Wrong with HealthCare.Gov?
Even though the Administration had three years to prepare for the launch of the government website where millions of Americans will be compelled to buy health insurance under ObamaCare, HealthCare.gov has been “live” for almost a month and there seems to be no end in sight to its problems. Since October 1, Americans have run into widespread amounts of glitches and error messages on the site, and millions have been unable to sign up as was advertised. It’s clear the online rollout of HealthCare.gov is a #fail. Not only did the Administration have more than enough time to prepare – but a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the cost to launch HealthCare.gov was approximately $350 MILLION… FAR exceeding the initial estimate given by the Obama Administration.
This week, President Obama pinned the blame for the troubled site on the contractors who designed and implemented it. While it looks to me that the President may be trying to throw these companies under the bus (what I consider his Administration’s latest attempt to evade accountability for its failures), I have a responsibility as a “watchdog” on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch and to investigate when things go wrong to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It’s our job as members of the Oversight Committee to get to the bottom of it.
We’re working on it. My fellow leaders on the Oversight Committee and I sent letters to the website contractors responsible for HealthCare.gov, seeking answers on what happened. Among the information we’re requesting is all documented communications between the companies and the Administration about the website. Surely, in the last three years, someone had to be aware of the major problems with HealthCare.gov and the potential impact these problems could have on the millions of Americans expected to enroll. We’re pushing for this answer and others as we work to uncover the truth on why – after three years and more than $300 million dollars – the Obamacare website wasn’t ready for the millions of Americans it anticipated to enroll. Stay tuned.
