{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-senate-passes-water-infrastructure-bill-sen-rand-pauls-kentucky-priorities/", "Senate Passes Water Infrastructure Bill with Sen. Rand Paul\u2019s Kentucky Priorities", "2018-10-10", "2018", "2018-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nOctober 10, 2018\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul applauded the U.S. Senate for passing S. 3021, the America\u2019s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018, which included all three of his Kentucky priorities for this bill. The legislation passed the Senate by a 99-1 vote.\n\nSenator Paul released the following statement:\n\n\u201cFighting for Kentucky\u2019s priorities in Congress is one of my most important duties, and one I take very seriously. It\u2019s why I am incredibly proud to be one of the very few senators to have secured all of my Kentucky-related priorities for inclusion in this bill, and I am thrilled with its passage today. Today\u2019s good news comes after years of work on behalf of the Rough River Lake, Lake Cumberland, and other affected communities, and it is truly great to see these efforts have yielded a positive result. I look forward to standing by my commitment to always put Kentucky first and continuing my steadfast defense of our land, our waterways, and you from government intrusion.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nThe America\u2019s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018 is a response to President Trump\u2019s call for major reinvestments in American infrastructure, particularly water infrastructure. AWIA directs the actions of the Army Corps of Engineers and authorizes major water infrastructure projects that benefit most states \u2013 key projects such as deepening nationally significant ports, maintaining inland waterways, upgrading dams and irrigation systems, and increasing water storage. The bill also:\n\n\u2022 Sets up a process to deauthorize $4 billion worth of previously authorized studies for projects that currently lack local support or have an outdated purpose\n\n\u2022 Notes funding authorization modifications for the potential removal of Green River and Barren River Locks and Dams in Kentucky\n\n\u2022 Directs the Corps to list studies that have not received funding in 10 years and solicit public and state government comment\n\n\u2022 Includes Senator Paul\u2019s Kentucky priorities:\n\n\u25e6 Lake Cumberland \u2013 Prevents the Secretary of the Army from charging a fee for surplus water if the contract is for surplus water stored in the Lake Cumberland Watershed.\n\n\u25e6 Rough River Lake \u2013 Prohibits the imposition of administrative fees around RRL and provides for the reimbursement of those fees to eligible property owners.\n\n\u25e6 Freedom to Fish \u2013 The Freedom to Fish Act, which became law in 2013, prevents the Corps of Engineers from taking certain actions to create a new restricted area prohibiting public access to waters downstream of a dam or other civil works structures in the Cumberland River basin. This provision extends Freedom to Fish by five years once AWIA (S. 3021) is signed into law.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:08:35Z"]], "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.paul.senate.gov/news-senate-passes-water-infrastructure-bill-sen-rand-pauls-kentucky-priorities/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7346319034695625, "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"}