Cornyn: Getting federal money for levees ‘fair and just'

EDINBURG - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Friday that he will file a bill authorizing the government to reimburse Cameron and Hidalgo counties for any spending on repairs to a federally owned flood control system along the Rio Grande.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said he hopes to have 75 percent of the repairs completed by the end of the year. The first phase of construction is slated to begin in April.

The local reimbursement model "allows this reconstruction to go forward and not wait for the federal government to act," Cornyn said. "It can take a while for the federal government to get around to doing the right thing sometimes."

Assuming Congress authorizes the payback, proponents still would have to convince Congress to allocate the funding for it through the International Boundary and Water Commission, which is overseeing repairs and controls the levees along the nation's southern border.

"(Cornyn) said he's going to tack it on to the fastest bill he can find," Salinas said of the funding request.

Hidalgo County voters in 2006 approved a $100 million bond issue to repair the levees, but area leaders hoped the federal government would relieve the burden on local taxpayers by reimbursing the county for any spending on those repairs.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos and other officials put the price tag of repairing that county's levee's at $50 million. So any help from the federal government would help save local taxpayers from shouldering the burden.

Rick Noriega, Cornyn's Democratic challenger in the upcoming November general election, said during a visit to McAllen on Thursday that the senator is now pushing for money and supporting a combination border security wall/levee to hide the fact that he authorized funding for the unpopular wall in the first place.

"He's looking for a way out for the three votes he cast for the wall," Noriega said. "Why haven't you (Cornyn) brought funding down here to fix the levees first?"

The federal government is responsible for levee maintenance, but federal law and an agreement between the county and IBWC prohibit the IBWC from reimbursing the county.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in January that it would build a border wall here designed to halt illegal entry from Mexico along 22 miles of the county's levees. That portion of the project is stalled while officials try to figure out exactly how to fund it.

The entire levee repair project in Cameron and Hidalgo counties is expected to cost about $125 million.