Washington, D.C. – Prepared Statement by Aileen Roder, Water Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense for Water and Power Subcommittee Markup of H.R. 2301:

Rep. John Doolittle’s (R-CA) efforts to get the Bureau of Reclamation to build a bridge over the American River near Folsom Dam is a waste of money and shouldn’t be paid for by federal taxpayers.

While it may be necessary to build a bridge to replace the one currently traversing Folsom Dam, it is not the federal taxpayers’ responsibility to look after the City of Folsom’s economic stability or its citizens’ commuter convenience. This bill seeks to end run the standard process for highway upgrades by forcing a water supply agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, to build a bridge. If local interests want more lanes or a substantially improved bridge, they should work with the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund the design and building of a new bridge instead of receiving funding from the federal treasury or Energy and Water Appropriations.

This bill foists responsibilities upon the Bureau of Reclamation that are outside of its core mission, crowding out legitimate Bureau of Reclamation projects. Proponents claim that the federal government has a responsibility to fund and build a new bridge over the AmericanRiver to replace the road that was taken out when Folsom Dam was built. However, this cry rings hollow. Local citizens have received flood control, water supply, power, recreation, a two-lane bridge over the AmericanRiver, and many other benefits from the Folsom Dam and Reservoir.

Taxpayers for Common Sense strongly opposes H.R. 2301. H.R. 2301 attempts to use legitimate security concerns to avoid the standard process of federal-local cost sharing for building road improvements. This bill ignores plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a temporary bridge near Folsom Dam, contains no local cost sharing for an enhanced bridge, makes an end run of the normal authorization process for bridge building, and tries to rewrite the Bureau of Reclamation’s mission by making it into a highway construction agency.