tkwalker
05-19-2014, 09:57 AM
A Note from Rick Duty ...
Having assigned a committee to reconcile the differences between House and Senate versions of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013; H.R. 3080 and S. 601 respectively, the House committee has concluded its work and, in short, recommends the following: “That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate, and agree to the same...” Again, that’s very short. The entire text of House Report 113-449 can be found here:
http://beta.congress.gov//congressional-report/113th-congress/house-report/449
What is important to us is that which is left untouched by the House committee’s recommended compromises. That is, Section 2058. The language that is the Freedom to Fish Act, is identically embedded in Section 2058 of both H.R. 3080, and S. 601., and references “Restricted Areas at Corps of Engineers Dams”. The key text reads, “ ... shall not take any action to establish a permanent physical barrier to prevent public access to waters downstream of a dam owned by the Corps of Engineers.”
With the House now poised to approve their version of the reconciliation, we can only wait to see how the official vote goes, then hope that the Senate follows through. If any of you see a Senate report, similar to the House report listed above, please let me know. Speculating, it may have been a one-way street, with only the House needing to align to the Senate’s language. At this point, we’re one step closer to the President’s signature - one step closer to a permanent solution to the Corps’ attempted overreach.
Having assigned a committee to reconcile the differences between House and Senate versions of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013; H.R. 3080 and S. 601 respectively, the House committee has concluded its work and, in short, recommends the following: “That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate, and agree to the same...” Again, that’s very short. The entire text of House Report 113-449 can be found here:
http://beta.congress.gov//congressional-report/113th-congress/house-report/449
What is important to us is that which is left untouched by the House committee’s recommended compromises. That is, Section 2058. The language that is the Freedom to Fish Act, is identically embedded in Section 2058 of both H.R. 3080, and S. 601., and references “Restricted Areas at Corps of Engineers Dams”. The key text reads, “ ... shall not take any action to establish a permanent physical barrier to prevent public access to waters downstream of a dam owned by the Corps of Engineers.”
With the House now poised to approve their version of the reconciliation, we can only wait to see how the official vote goes, then hope that the Senate follows through. If any of you see a Senate report, similar to the House report listed above, please let me know. Speculating, it may have been a one-way street, with only the House needing to align to the Senate’s language. At this point, we’re one step closer to the President’s signature - one step closer to a permanent solution to the Corps’ attempted overreach.