This bill contains flood control projects, environmental restoration projects, wastewater system improvements, water projects all over the country in rural areas, small towns, medium-size cities and large cities. And in many of these areas, our water systems are 50 or 75 or even 100 years old and are in desperate need for work and improvement and, many times, new construction.

   I had the privilege, as my friend from South Carolina (Mr. Brown) mentioned, of serving as chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee for 6 years; and during that time, as the gentlelady from California (Ms. Matsui) mentioned, we passed the WRDA bill twice, once with only 8 votes against it, once with only 14 votes against it. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass in the Senate.

   In this Congress, under the leadership of my good friend, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, and my friend, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), and certainly under the leadership of our full committee chairman, our outstanding chairman, Mr. Oberstar, the gentleman from Minnesota, and the Ranking Member Mica from Florida, this bill passed not only the House, but it passed the Senate by a vote of 91-4. So there is tremendous support, bipartisan support, for this legislation from people all over the country.

   You know, if an automobile needs an oil change and you don't get it, a very low-cost matter, an engine can later explode and cost thousands of dollars; and that's sort of the situation we're in with many of our water systems from around the country. As several people have noted, this is a 7-year bill, and it deals with these water needs that have built up over all of that time.

   I think it's a very fiscally conservative bill. As expensive as it is in one way, it's only a little over a month and a half of what we're spending in Iraq. And comparing these 7 years of built-up needs to what we're doing in the little over 1 1/2 and a half months in Iraq, I think makes this a very conservative bill.

   I had the privilege of chairing the Aviation Subcommittee for 6 years before I chaired the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee for 6 years, and in both of those areas I saw that there were very strong, competing interests in those areas. But, in this bill, we brought all these competing interests together. There was a great deal of compromise that went on and a great deal of work was put into this legislation.

   I'm very proud to support this bill. I think it's good for this Nation. I know it's good for my home area of east Tennessee, where we have so many water needs.

   Mr. Speaker, I just want to commend everybody who has worked so hard on this legislation. It's very important for this country. There is nothing that the people in this country take for granted like we do our clean water and wastewater systems, and we desperately need this work to be done.

   I think this is a bipartisan legislation that all of our colleagues can and should support.