ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1988 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D.C. The committee met at 2 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. J. Bennett Johnston (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Johnston, Burdick, Sasser, DeConcini, Hatfield, and Specter. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY-CIVIL CORPS OF ENGINEERS-CIVIL STATEMENT OF ROBERT W. PAGE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY (CIVIL WORKS) ACCOMPANIED BY: JOHN DOYLE, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY (CIVIL WORKS) LT. GEN. E. R. HEIBERG III, CHIEF, CORPS OF ENGINEERS MAJ. GEN. HENRY J. HATCH, DIRECTOR OF CIVIL WORKS DON CLUFF, CHIEF, PROGRAMS DIVISION, DIRECTORATE OF CIVIL WORKS OPENING REMARKS Senator JOHNSTON. The subcommittee will come to order. This afternoon, the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee begins its hearings on the fiscal year 1989 budget request for items under our jurisdiction. Today, we are delighted to welcome before the committee the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Mr. Robert W. Page; his principal deputy, Mr. John Doyle; Lt. Gen. E.R. Heiberg III, Chief of Engineers; and Maj. Gen. Henry Hatch, Director of Civil Works, who together will present an overview of the funding requests for 1989. GENERAL HEIBERG'S RETIREMENT It is a pleasure to have you gentlemen here this afternoon. Mr. Page, I know this is your first appearance before us and we look forward to hearing from you. But first I would like to mention the fact that this is, I think, General Heiberg, your last appearance before this committee for the general overview from the Corps of Engineers programs. (1) General Heiberg, of course, has been the Chief of the Corps now for some time. As Chief and Director of Civil Works, he has worked with this committee through the years. I must say, General Heiberg, it will be a great loss to the Corps and to the country when you retire. You enjoy the very highest reputation, the very highest esteem from this committee and from the Congress. It will be a great loss to see you leave. We hope you will be around visiting and advising with us even after your May retirement. I want the record to reflect how outstanding your service has been to the Corps, to the Congress, and to the country. General HEIBERG. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. SUMMARY OF STATEMENT Mr. PAGE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With your indulgence, I would like to add to your complimentary statement about General Heiberg. I think that it is unfortunate, for me personally and certainly for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, that we are losing such a friend and strong leader. Being confirmed just 2 months ago, I am just now getting my feet on the ground. And it has been with a great deal of help from General Heiberg and his staff that we have been able to already set some new program initiatives in motion. It is these new initiatives which I wish to discuss in a few minutes. I would be remiss, however, if I didn't mention that John Doyle, sitting next to me, who is the Principal Deputy, has served in this office much longer than I. He served as acting Assistant Secretary between Bob Dawson, who was my predecessor, and myself. It is with his knowledge that we will probably answer most of your detailed questions today. FISCAL YEAR 1989 BUDGET REQUEST We have presented to you a budget which approximates $3.3 billion. As far as my knowledge of the process is concerned, it satisfies all of the parameters which the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the Corps of Engineers use to move the studies and projects through our approval process to the Congress. We hope and trust that when Congress makes up its fiscal 1989 bill, it will hold the level of spending to what has been proposed by the President because, in my opinion, we have worked diligently toward meeting all program priorities while being fiscally responsible and complying with the bipartisan budget agreement. We have looked closely at the viability of this budget not only from a financial standpoint, but also for meeting the requirements of the American public, the taxpayers, and the subcommittee. NEW INITIATIVES In order to execute this budget and to better control future budgets, I will be working with General Heiberg and General Hatch, and also Don Cluff and others of the staff, on internal initiatives which we have started sometime ago in the Corps. We are now refining those initiatives which will allow us to execute our studies and projects in the most proficient manner. In doing these initiatives, we are hoping to shorten the approval process, to better control the projects through life-cycle project management, and to serve you, the Congress, and the people of this country in giving you a better product in a shorter time, and, we hope, within budget. We are working on these new initiatives. I think they will be an innovation for the Corps. It will involve taking some of their past procedures and honing them down in the hope that we will eventually get ourselves streamlined to the point that we can meet the demand that will be placed upon the Corps by Public Law 99-662. PREPARED STATEMENT If I may enter the formal statement into the record, Mr. Chairman. Senator JOHNSTON. Without objection. Mr. PAGE. Being from Texas and wordy as I am, I probably could talk all day long, but I doubt that that would serve the purposes for which we are here today. I do want to thank you for having us here. I want to thank my peers at the table and those behind us for helping us and supporting us in this effort. We are here today to respond to your questions. Thank you very much, sir. [The statement follows:] |