Collins Fights to Protect Georgia Water Resources
Washington, D.C. – December 21, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Doug Collins issued the following statement regarding the passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill:
“As usual, we are seeing the end-of-the-year rush to fund the government, which leaves us scrambling to find a fix for issues that should have already been dealt with. In the new year I hope to see smaller, more focused bills that don’t come to us the last legislative week of the year.”
“However, the win for Georgia water rights was too important for me to not support this bill. For years, the state of Georgia has been party to costly litigation with Alabama and Florida over the use of Georgia’s water in Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River basin. At the request of Governor Nathan Deal, my Georgia colleagues and I challenged the Alabama congressional delegation’s aggressive attempt to insert anti-Georgia language into this spending measure, and we stripped the hostile language from the bill. I am pleased their efforts to inject the federal government in a purely state issue and cost Georgia potentially millions more in legal costs were thwarted. Ongoing negotiations about Georgia’s water and how it is allocated should be handled at the state level, and pending court cases will be allowed to proceed unimpeded. Congress should avoid interfering in state matters whenever possible, and left to those who know the issue best. Today is a victory for Georgia and states’ rights.”
“This year’s omnibus included provisions to close the gaps in the Visa Waiver Program, and will require participating countries to issue fraud-resistant passports. Our defense department will be fully funded, with soldiers getting the pay raise they were promised. Veterans will be better served by increased oversight at the Veterans Administration, which will now have to report directly to Congress.”
