Hard work avoids lame duck bills

              Randy Weber

Washington watch with Randy Weber

US congressman Randy Weber writes exclusively
in The Post about issues involving his work as part
of our nation’s government

Now that election day has come and gone, congress must get back to work. You can count on me to roll up my sleeves and continue where we left off in September. While many look at the remaining days of congress this year as a lame duck, I see it as an opportunity to work together to put America first.
A lot can be accomplished by the end of this year. It’s time for congress to come together on bills that help our job creators and hard-working families. In the remaining days of the 114th congress, I will be proactively working to grow our economy, alleviate the burdens imposed on our job creators, support our energy industry, protect our coastal communities and ensure our nation is ready
in a moment’s notice if we are attacked.
When the member of congress return, we will
be focusing on final passage of the Water Resources Development act, known as WRDA, which is vital to our economy and job growth. Enactment of this important legislation will be welcome news for my constituents.
WRDA contains my provision designed to expedite completion of the Texas coastal study, which will
in turn speed up the process for the federal planning and implementation of coastal-barrier infrastructure.
This legislation also includes my provision to release federal claims over land at the Texas City ship channel and continue the commitment of congress to reauthorize and reform the US Army Corps Of Engineers every two years.
I will be working to pass my legislation, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities act, as well as legislation that I have co-sponsored to expedite the approval of department-of-energy permits for export facilities for liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
America must maintain our nuclear capabilities and continue to develop cutting-edge technology here at home. Without the direction provided in the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities act, we’ll lose the ability to develop innovative nuclear technology and be left importing reactor designs from overseas.
The United States has the best nuclear engineers and manufacturing capacity in the world and we can’t put that expertise at risk. Even more importantly, the NEIC bill will maintain our nation’s capability to influence security and proliferation standards around the world as more developing nations look to nuclear energy
to grow their economies.
The enactment of legislation to expedite DOE permits for LNG export infrastructure by the end of this year is critical. This legislation would require the DOE to issue permits
to export American LNG
60 days after environmental reviews are completed by the federal energy regulatory commission.
There are numerous multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects waiting on long delayed DOE action, including several in Texas ready to employ thousands in building these state-of-the-art facilities. Further bureaucratic delays can no longer be tolerated by congress.
Finally, the passage of the National Defense Authorization act, NDAA, will help close the readiness gap our military currently faces by providing much-needed funding – ensuring our service members are equipped with the proper tools and resources to defend our nation.
This authorization will also streamline the process of procuring the latest technology and will increase transparency to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly.
Our remaining weeks in the current congress do not need to be squandered because that is what is expected in a lame-duck session. Frankly, it’s a lame excuse. The American people elected us to work and we should not stop because there will be a new president or a new congress.
No; instead, we must finish the work our constituents require of their representatives in congress.
Randy Weber is the US representative for the 14th district of Texas, which covers Brazoria, Galveston and Jefferson counties.