Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul yesterday joined with colleague Walter Jones of North Carolina in voting to allocate an additional $20 million to the Army Corps of Engineers in 2006.

Under Congressman Jones’s amendment to an energy and water spending bill, the Army Corps of Engineers would receive a 2.1% increase in its operations and maintenance account. This increase is very modest, as the administrative budget at the Department of Energy has grown 21% since 2003. This additional $20 million comes at no additional cost to taxpayers , as the Jones amendment shifts existing funds from administrative departments to actual projects on our nation’s waterways.

The Army Corps of Engineers is involved in several important projects in the 14 ^th congressional district, including channel dredging and flood plain mitigation.

“Congress doesn’t need to spend more money, it needs to spend money more wisely,” Paul stated. “Congress spends plenty of money on highway, bridge, and road infrastructure, while waterways, inlets, and harbors are neglected. The Department of Energy, like most federal agencies, spends too much on administrative costs at the expense of its true mission. I want the majority of the Army Corps budget spent on nuts and bolts projects in places like Victoria, Matagorda, and Galveston counties, not in Washington DC.”

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