Straight Talk with Sam

Flood control isn't only an accounting of dollars and cents in North Missouri-it's a matter of life and death.

Our proximity to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, two of the nation's largest, means that when they flood, the consequences are not just financial. It disrupts businesses, making it harder for families to make ends meet. It destroys homes, tears families apart, and prematurely steals loved ones from us.

For too long, we've neglected to prioritize the protection of lives, homes, and livelihoods when managing our rivers, and the toll has been severe. As Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, I set out to change that forever.

From the day I began writing the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, I knew it was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix so many of the complex challenges our communities have faced. Sure, it's a bill that Congress tries to pass every two years to authorize water resources projects nationwide. But I made it my mission to make flood control the top priority again.

Since the devastating Flood of 1993, little progress has been made on the Upper Mississippi River to improve flood control. My bill charts a new path to getting projects authorized for construction and a systemic flood control plan that works.

On the Missouri River, Congress authorized the Pick-Sloan Plan in 1944, which called for a highly engineered system of reservoirs and levees to protect communities from flooding. However, the levees were never completed, and ecosystem experiments have corrupted the original flood control mission. My bill ensures that if an ecosystem experiment causes bank erosion or threatens levees, the Corps has to fix those problems before moving forward, and it continues to help critical levee projects along the Lower Missouri River move forward.

I've lived just a stone's throw from the Missouri River my entire life. I haven't just heard stories of how devastating flooding can be; I've seen floods destroy the lives of my neighbors, friends, and family firsthand. This bill can't heal all the wounds of the past, but it's an important step forward in fixing things for future generations. Folks in Washington have got to realize that flood control isn't a game. It's about protecting lives and livelihoods. That has to be the top priority.