Border Commerce / Trade / Water / Economic Development (Includes Infrastructure)

Ortiz and Henry Bonilla (R-TX) again co-chaired the bipartisan Congressional Border Caucus in the House of Representatives for the 108th Congress, advocating for the interests of border communities in Washington.

Ortiz and the Congressional Border Caucus asked the Commissioner of the United States Customs Service to reconsider proposed changes to the U.S. Customs service cargo release process for commercial truck imports to the U.S.

Ortiz joined forces with Mexico Senator Oscar Luebbert Gutierrez – who represents the State of Tamaulipas in Mexico’s Congress and who serves as Chairman of the Committee on Border Affairs – to form a bi-national working group of legislators to examine Mexican violations of the treaty, in particular water districts, lakes and reservoirs built in violation of the 1944 water treaty.

Ortiz led several Members of Congress in protesting funding policies associated with the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), in which the federal government reimburses local law enforcement entities to hold undocumented immigrants captured by federal officials, pending trial. Ortiz co-sponsored legislation to expand SCAAP and wrote to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcraft to protest a recent change in the SCAAP program.

Ortiz introduced a resolution in Congress taking Mexico to task for the decades of not apportioning the waters of the Rio Grande as they are required to do under an international treaty, and calling on the administration to withhold deliveries of water to Mexico from the Colorado, opening a new legislative pursuit on the matter.

Ortiz brought Don Young, the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infracture Committee, to South Texas for a first hand look at the area infrastructure

Ortiz persuaded the North American Development Bank (NADBank) to fund U.S. projects from the NADB Water Conservation Investment Fund (WCIF). This funding is the $40 million that was to go to U.S. interests as a result of the Minute Order signed by Mexico and the U.S. that provided $80 million for irrigation projects in both countries.
Following is a list of South Texas irrigation districts that will benefit from the funding:

• Brownsville Irrigation District, Texas, Main Canal Replacement ($1,178,000)
• Cameron County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Improvements to Irrigation Water Distribution System ($1,800,000)
• Cameron County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Replacement of River Pumping Plant ($4,000,000)
• Harlingen Irrigation District Cameron County #1, Texas, Canal Lining, Pipeline Installation, Flow Measurement, Telemetry, and Water Delivery Project ($1,800,000)
• Valley Municipal Utility District #2, Texas, Improvements to Supply Canal ($1,097,729)
• Bayview Irrigation District #11, Texas ($637,548)
• Hidalgo County Irrigation District #1, Texas, Canal Lining and Pipeline Installation Project ($2,887,500)
• Hidalgo County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Proposed Irrigation Improvements Wisconsin Canal ($600,000)
• Hidalgo County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Proposed Lateral "A" Canal Improvements, Project #1 ($586,383)
• Hidalgo County Irrigation District #6, Texas, Water Conservation Improvements ($1,500,000)
• Hidalgo and Cameron Counties Irrigation District #9, Texas, Flume Stabilization, Concrete Box Siphon Repair, and Canal Lining ($1,250,000)
• Hidalgo County Irrigation District #16, Texas ($1,376,697)
• Maverick County Water Control and Improvement District #1, Texas, Water Conservation Improvements ($406,941)
• Delta Lake Irrigation District, Texas, Water Conservation Improvements ($3,560,000)
• Donna Irrigation District, Texas, Water Conservation Improvements ($3,000,000)

Ortiz introduced a bill to benefit the Public Utilities of Brownsville (PUB) by helping them qualify for federal grants to reclaim or treat waters in the Brownsville area.

As a direct result of Ortiz legislation, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation released federal funding to three water conservation projects in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The money was appropriated through the FY03 Energy and Water Appropriations bill.

• $752,669 - to fund the 50 percent of a project by the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 to replace about 5,300 feet of concrete-lined canal (the "Curry Main" canal) with a 72-inch-diameter pipeline. This will reduce water loss from seepage and improve operational efficiency.
• $397,331 - to fund about 30 % of a water conservation project for the Harlingen Irrigation District with three components: 1) installation of a telemetering system in the District to provide water flow data and allow the District to track water usage; 2) replacement of about 32,000 feet of canal with small-diameter pipeline to reduce water loss from seepage; and 3) rehabilitation of about 13,000 feet of canal with a flexible polyurethane liner to reduce water loss.
• $75,000 - to cover the Federal share of expenses incurred to date by the Cameron County Irrigation District No. 2 on a project to replace the District's 90-year old river pumping plant and to build about 6,000 feet of concrete canal.

Ortiz was instrumental in arranging for the Port of Brownsville and the Port of Manzanillo-Glipsa (located on the Pacific coast of Mexico) to sign a historic sister port agreement, a critical component in creating the path to bring Asian products across Mexico and through the Port of Brownsville to move them to the East Coast of North America or Europe.

Ortiz introduced legislation with Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA) to grant tax credits to investors in the emerging commercial space industry. Companies that have shown an interest in building a South Texas spaceport in Willacy County will benefit from this legislation, bringing the industry closer to building the infrastructure they need to literally get the commercial space transportation industry off the ground in the United States.

Ortiz, an active opponent of the pending U.S. VISIT program (an entry-exit system only at U.S.-Mexico border ports; not Canadian border ports) met with Valley leaders, to engage and educate pivotal Members of Congress, including Jim Turner (D-TX, Ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee), who can be helpful in opposing its implementation. Ortiz is the Co-chair of the House Border Caucus.

Ortiz, Ciro Rodriguez (Chairman, Congressional Hispanic Caucus), and members of the House Border Caucus requested the Congressional accounting and investigation unit, the General Accounting Office (GAO), conduct a study to review the implementation of US-VISIT and to measure its effectiveness as a border security tool.

Ortiz won $28.8 million from the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration/Federal Highway to construct State Border Safety Inspection Facilities at the US/Mexico Border, including the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates.

Ortiz reminded President George W. Bush that he wants parity between NAFTA partners on the issue of travel restrictions/length of stay.

Ortiz asked Bush to discuss with Mexican President Vicente Fox a schedule for water payments to eliminate the Mexican water debt when they met at Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch.

Ortiz endorsed the efforts of a coalition of Rio Grande Valley irrigators who filed a formal claim on August 27, under the NAFTA arbitration rules, to seek $500 million judgment for economic losses related to the loss of over 1 million acre feet of water South Texas has lost to Mexico, during the last decade, and in violation of a 1944 treaty apportioning the waters of the Rio Grande.

Ortiz persuaded President Bush to include the following funding from the Corps of Engineers work in South Texas:

• $800,000 for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Navigation Project for pre-construction engineering and design for deepening ship channel
• $7.9 million for operations and maintenance at the Port of Corpus Christi (for scheduled dredging)
• $300,000 for the Raymondville Drain Flood Control project, for pre-construction engineering and design
• $250,000 for studies of Resacas at Brownsville Texas Environmental Restoration
• $500,000 for a study on channel deepening at Port of Brownsville
• $9.5 million to deepen the Brownsville Ship Channel to 55 feet

Ortiz won House passage of his bill to name the Brownsville courthouse for Judges Garza and Vela, to the floor. The bill passed the House unanimously.

Ortiz joined a Congressional effort aimed at restoring the funding in the federal budget to reimburse local jails for costs associated with holding illegal immigrants for federal authorities. Ortiz cosponsored the “SCAAP Reimbursement Protection Act of 2003,” aimed at restoring the funding.

Ortiz supported the South Texas Olympic Training Center, which will have extraordinary benefits for the South Texas economy.

Ortiz persuaded the U.S. Department of Transportation to release $289,946, the first part of the funding for the Passenger Ferry at the Port of Corpus Christi

Ortiz won passage in the House of a bill to allow Brownsville PUB to participate in water recycling and desalinization project authorized by the Secretary of the Interior.

Ortiz led efforts in Congress to ask the Department of Commerce to commence an investigation into the matter of shrimp dumping on the U.S. market, via a letter to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and copied to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, United States Trade Ambassador. Ortiz later commended the Commerce Department for instituting preliminary antidumping duties to offset the damage of dumping illegal shrimp on the U.S. market.

Ortiz and Congressmen Ken Calvert (R-CA) commended the pilot, crew and designers of SpaceShipOne on their successful launch in to low Earth orbit for the second time in two weeks, winning the much-sought after Ansari X prize of $10 million. Ortiz has been a proponent of a South Texas Spaceport; he is hopeful this launch will reinvigorate the commercial space industry.

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the reauthorization of the transportation laws:

• $1 million for the Port of Corpus Christi International Trade Corridor for congestion and safety enhancements
• $4 million for completion of U.S. 77 relief route around City of Robstown
• $2 million for Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority for maintenance facility improvements
• Under the New STARTS projects, the Committee also authorized the Corpus Christi Downtown Rail Trolley
• $2 million for construction of segment #1 of Morrison Road for the City of Brownsville
• $1 million for Engineering, design and construction of freight connector roads along FM 511 at Brownsville Navigation District
• $2 million for the Brownsville Urban System’s (BUS) Citywide Transit Improvement Project
• $1.5 million to make transportation corridor improvements along I-69 from Palo Alto to the U.S. Mexico border at Brownsville Navigation District
• $500,000 for North Cameron County East-West Railroad Relocation Project

Ortiz got the North American Development Bank (NADB) to approve $16.4 million in grant resources from the NADB Water Conservation Investment Fund (WCIF) for six U.S projects, two of which are in Cameron County:

• $1,800,000, Cameron County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Improvements to Irrigation Water Distribution System
• $4,000,000, Cameron County Irrigation District #2, Texas, Replacement of River Pumping Plant

Ortiz endorsed the signing of the Presidential Permit for the West Rail Bridge in Cameron County.

>> Detailed accomplishments of Congressman Ortiz