Matsui & Feinstein Tour Natomas Levees

THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Senator Dianne Feinstein toured the Natomas levees Tuesday, April 10 to show their ongoing support for the Natomas Levee Improvement Project.

Both Matsui, D-Sacramento, and Senator Feinstein, D-California, have supported the project in Congress and introduced legislation in an effort to help get it funded. The congresswomen were joined on the tour by representatives from the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“The Natomas Levee Improvement Project is a critical public safety effort that will protect 100,000 people, create over 2,500 jobs, and will ensure our community is safe from disaster; it cannot be delayed,” said Matsui. “I continue to look for options to authorize this project in the House, and to make the current Majority leadership understand the critical necessity of moving the (the project) forward. ”

The earmark ban in the House of Representatives does not allow for legislation introduced by Matsui or Feinstein that would allocate federal funds for the Natomas levee project to move forward.

Matsui’s office continues to seek different avenues to fund the project, from introducing a stand-alone bill to authorize the Natomas Levee Improvement Project, to pursuing action on a Water Resources Development Act.

“We are at a critical juncture in the project. An authorization is needed this year to allow the Corps to keep the project moving forward,” SAFCA executive director Rick Johnson said. “Having Senator Feinstein and Congresswoman Matsui out here on the Sacramento River levees demonstrates the importance they place on public safety and the need for the authorization.”

 

 

PHOTOS COURTESY VICE MAYOR ASHBY’S OFFICE