{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://woodall.house.gov/media-center/e-newsletter-archive/washington-watch-121216", "Washington Watch - 12/12/16", "2016-12-12", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "GA", "Rob Woodall", "W000810", "woodall.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The House wrapped-up its work for the year last week, and the great news is that we moved to the President\u2019s desk a number of critically important pieces of legislation that will help our nation\u2019s military men and women, repair our water infrastructure, and find cures for cancer and other deadly diseases, to name a few.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nADVANCING AMERICA'S WATER INFRASTRUCTURE PRIORITIES\nOn Thursday, the House passed the \u201cWater Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act,\u201d in an overwhelming, bipartisan vote with 360 members of Congress supporting the final package. The bill protects our access to Lake Lanier and provides a big boost for our ports, which are responsible for more than 25,000 jobs in the Seventh District. \u00a0What's more, I'm elated to report that the\u00a0final legislation, which is on its way to the President's desk, includes a section I authored eliminating language\u00a0inappropriately inserted in the\u00a02014 WRDA bill by Alabama's\u00a0senator\u00a0that unfairly usurped the rights of the Florida, Georgia, and Alabama governors to negotiate a solution to the tri-state water conflict. It unnecessarily inserted the federal government into this issue, and removing it from WRDA is the right thing to do.\u00a0\nI\u2019m proud to serve as Georgia\u2019s voice on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where I helped craft the bill, and I\u2019m looking forward to building on this success and continuing to move power out of Washington and into Georgia in the coming year.\nClick on the video to watch me speak about the water bill on the House floor\n\u00a0\nCONGRESS\u00a0COMPLETES SHORT-TERM SPENDING BILL\nLast week, Congress passed and sent to the President a Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend funding for most federal agencies, programs, and services through April 28, 2017.\u00a0 While it was necessary to advance a short-term CR so that the incoming administration has an opportunity to weigh in on FY2017 funding priorities, I hope that this CR is the last one considered by Congress for years to come.\u00a0 Restoring regular order in the annual appropriations process will be a challenge, and though we were unable to fully achieve that goal this year, I\u2019m encouraged by the September passage and enactment of the FY2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, which marked the first time since 2009 that a regular appropriations bill was signed into law before the end of the fiscal year.\u00a0 I look forward to building on that small victory for regular order and working with my colleagues and President-elect Trump next year to ensure that CRs are a thing of the past!\n\u00a0\nHOUSE AND SENATE COME TOGETHER TO FUND HEALTH RESEARCH\nLast week, Congress sent to the President\u2019s desk the 21st Century Cures Act. We\u2019ve talked about it before, but it bears repeating that this legislation will bring much needed investment to the National Institutes of the Health and the Food and Drug Administration so that our nation\u2019s scientists can find cures for the deadliest diseases that afflict Americans and then bring those cures to market quickly and efficiently. The bill also revamps our nation\u2019s mental health care system so that it better serves those who need appropriate mental and behavioral health care. Working together \u2013 Democrats and Republicans \u2013 across the aisle, we will make a real difference in the lives of our friends and neighbors. I look forward to the President signing the 21st Century Cures Act into law.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nCORPS OF ENGINEERS SUPPORT GEORGIA\u2019S WATER RIGHTS\nIn addition to passing a major water infrastructure bill, Georgia got more good news last week in our continuing quest to ensure that Georgia\u2019s water resources are being used appropriately and according to the law.\u00a0 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for managing Lake Lanier, announced on Thursday that Georgia\u2019s water supply request will be granted.\u00a0 This will be done through what\u2019s known as a Water Control Manual (WCM), and it represents the first time in more than two decades that the WCM has had a major update. \u00a0This means that we are one big step closer to ensuring metro Atlanta will have enough water to sustain our rapidly growing population and business developments, and it couldn\u2019t come at a more critical time with Georgia officials working overtime as we speak to fend off legal challenges from Florida and Alabama over this issue. Georgia has long been a model steward in water conservation and reuse, and I\u2019m so pleased that the new WCM will supplement our existing efforts.\n\u00a0\nDEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL GOES TO THE PRESIDENT\nI\u2019m happy to say that the Senate followed the House\u2019s lead last week and approved the National Defense Authorization Act\u00a0(NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017.\u00a0 For decades, Congress has been coming together for the good of our nation\u2019s military members to pass this yearly legislation to guide the Pentagon\u2019s plan for our defense.\u00a0\nI\u2019m proud that this bill includes the biggest pay raise for our troops in six years, ensures our service members have the tools they need to defeat any enemy foolish enough to challenge us, and makes certain that America\u2019s military remains the most capable fighting force the world has ever known. \u00a0This year\u2019s NDAA will ensure that our new Commander-in-Chief and his Secretary of Defense will have all the resources they need to keep Americans safe.\u00a0 I look forward to the President signing this legislation soon.\n\u00a0\nHOUSE VOTES TO EMPOWER CONGRESS AND STATES IN INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY DISCUSSION\nAs you all may know, the U.S. and the European Union are currently negotiating an international agreement on insurance regulation, and the House took action last week on a bill, H.R. 5143, the \u201cTransparent Insurance Standards Act of 2016,\u201d which I hope will provide greater transparency and enhance accountability for these negotiations.\u00a0 H.R. 5143 would create a formalized role for Congressional monitoring of the negotiations and development of international insurance standards, require federal officials to collaborate more closely with state insurance regulators throughout the process, and establish a series of requirements that must be met before federal officials can accept the final standards, among other things.\u00a0 H.R. 5143 was crafted to put other nations on notice that the U.S. intends to lead, rather than be led, in the development of any international insurance standards, and I was pleased to support it.\nSincerely,    \n\tRob Woodall  \n\tMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://woodall.house.gov/media-center/e-newsletter-archive/washington-watch-121216"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7066898979246616, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}