{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/speechesfloorstatements?ContentRecord_id=e6b9449a-cd4b-4ed4-8204-496638f4042f", "Floor speech: Replacing Chickamauga Lock", "2014-12-03", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The House of Representatives is expected to pass tonight legislation that should be very good news to Americans who care about their jobs and Americans who care about the condition of our inland waterway systems. \u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Inland waterway systems aren't on the front page of the U.S. newspapers until a lock closes or something happens and the cargo can't get down the river, and then it is big trouble. Which is the case in Tennessee with the Chickamauga Lock, an old lock that the Army Corps of Engineers says could close. It is in such bad shape, and if it were to close it would throw 150,000 heavy trucks on I?75 and disrupt the economy in all of eastern Tennessee.\u00a0 That same picture applies in many other parts of our country to these important waterways:\u00a0 The Mississippi, the Missouri, the Tennessee, and the Ohio ?? rivers that carry so much of the heavy cargo that provides income and jobs for so many American families.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tonight the House of Representatives is expected to enact the third part of a three?part plan that was envisioned in the American Waterworks Act of 2012, which would provide a permanent, long?term solution to having the kind of inland waterway system that a great country such as the United States deserves.\u00a0 I wish to speak for a moment about the effect that has not just on our country but on my home State of Tennessee.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For our country, it would be hard to imagine how we could carry cars and coal and agricultural equipment from the great Midwest and the South to the rivers to be shipped overseas without the barges that carry that equipment, millions of tons of cargo every year, and it is usually cheaper and faster than many other forms of transportation.\u00a0 That means more jobs and more money in the pockets of Americans who are able to work for industries that are competitive.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The legislation the House is expected to pass will provide $260\u00a0million for inland waterway projects across the country over the next 10 years.\u00a0 It is important to note that this fee is paid entirely by the owners of the big commercial barges that use the locks when they go down the rivers, and that none of it would be paid by the fishing boats and recreation boats which also use the locks.\u00a0 In other words, the big commercial barges are going to pay more to get through the locks faster, to save money and to save time, and that is good for the fishermen as well, without any cost.\u00a0This is the third step in the American Waterworks Act that was proposed in 2012.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This step would increase by 9 cents the way the fee is calculated that the big barge companies pay to go through the locks.\u00a0 The barge companies have volunteered to do this.\u00a0 They have been pleading with the U.S. Congress, saying, \"Please raise the fee we pay to go through the locks so you can use the Corps of Engineers to replace the locks so we can go through faster and cheaper.\"\u00a0 So the House is taking steps to do that tonight.\u00a0 The fee will increase from 20 to 29 cents per gallon of fuel used and, as I said, $260\u00a0million of that over the next 10 years will go to help repair these locks.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first two steps in the plan of the American Waterworks Act were enacted by law earlier this year as part of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act.\u00a0 Step\u00a0one was to take the Olmsted lock in Ohio and treat it separately, because it was soaking up all the money that might be available for all the other locks in the country.\u00a0 Step\u00a0two was to create a prioritization of the locks, so we didn't come here every year and say \u201cmy lock is more important than your lock.\u201d\u00a0 And, in fact, with that, the Chickamauga lock in Tennessee became No. 4.\u00a0 And Step three is the user fee I talked about earlier.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What difference does this legislation mean for the State of Tennessee and the Chickamauga lock?\u00a0 Well, for years the Chickamauga lock has been subject to year?by?year efforts by those of us in Congress to find a little money to repair it, to keep it from closing, all knowing full well that if we didn't replace it, it would one day soon close.\u00a0 Those days are over.\u00a0 This is a long?term solution that says, No.\u00a01, the Olmsted lock which has been soaking up the money has been reduced, Chickamauga lock is a fourth priority in the government, and now we have money paid by the big barge owners that, when combined with the annual appropriations, should make it possible to begin to replace Chickamauga lock beginning in the year in 2016.\u00a0 That would mean it would still take several years to replace the lock.\u00a0 It would mean it would still cost about half a billion dollars.\u00a0 But it would mean that instead of year?by?year appropriations and guessing games that the Army Corps of Engineers can have a long?term plan and begin to do the job, and those who are making plans to invest in our part of the region\u00a0?? not just in Chattanooga but in eastern Tennessee ?? can know if they do that, the lock would be there to help provide low?cost transportation for what they manufacture and what they grow.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want to thank a variety of people who have taken great leadership in this.\u00a0 The Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Casey, and I have been the joint sponsors of this legislation in the Senate.\u00a0 We are very hopeful that the House will do its work tonight and the Senate will do its work next week and that the bill will go to the president before the end of the year and this will be law by the end of the year.\u00a0 So I thank him for his leadership.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I also want to congratulate Congressman Fleischmann of Chattanooga who rounded up a group of Republican members to support this effort, and Congressman Duncan from Knoxville.\u00a0 Speaker Boehner has been very helpful, and Congressman Camp has been very helpful.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the Senate I would like to thank Senator Vitter, who is the ranking member of the Environment & Public Works Committee for his leadership on this effort, and I would like to thank Senator Reid, the majority leader, and Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, for their cooperation on this.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nothing is ever done in the U.S. Congress until it is finally done.\u00a0 So this is passing the House tonight and it is expected to pass the Senate next week, which is very good news for Americans who depend on the inland waterways for their jobs, and in Tennessee ?? instead of a year?by?year appropriation, it is an effort, it is the first chance we have had to have a long?term solution to the replacement over the next several years of Chickamauga Lock beginning as early as the year 2016.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\n# # #", 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://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/speechesfloorstatements?ContentRecord_id=e6b9449a-cd4b-4ed4-8204-496638f4042f"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5072159003466368, "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"}