464 DOCUM]XTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL

 Mr. LAmxxm. Mr. Speaker, I think we ought to have a quorum present to
 hear this important discussion, and I make the point of order there is not a
 quorum present.
 The SPzhXa pro tempore. The Chair will count.
 Mr. LAMNmmO. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order.
 Mr. BUOnHAAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New
 York [Mr. O'Connor].
 (Mr. O'Connor asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
 remarks in the Record.)
 Mr. O'COIrNoa Mr. Speaker, I think it will be helpful if I describe briefly
 the present status of the Florida canal project and just how the Senate amend-
 ment relates to it. The Florida Canal is a regular river and harbor project
 originating in the river and harbor bill of 1927, which included a provision for
 a survey for this project. In the ordinary course of procedure the Board of
 Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and the Chief of Engineers would report the
 project to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House, and I understand
 that this will be done in the near future. Because of the magnitude of the
 project and the large amount of ground to be covered, the board of survey of
 the Corps of Engineers was approximately 6 years in making a most exhaustive
 survey and study. Before they had made their report but after they had
 completed the actual work and had collected all necessary data, Congress had
 enacted certain relief legislation which empowered the President, and indeed
 laid upon him the responsibility to select and designate public works of all
 kinds which could be used for the relief of unemployment. With the advice
 and recommendation of the appropriate agencies of the Government, the
 President designated a large number of such projects, and among these, the
 Florida Canal. In the case of this particular project he not only took the
 advice and recommendation of the Chief of Engineers but caused it to be
 further examined by the engineers of the Public Works Administration and by a
 special board consisting of Army engineers, engineers of the Public Works Ad-
 ministration, and an engineer selected by these from civil life. I do not
 propose to attempt to go into the mass of detail with regard to these examina-
 tions and reports.
 It is sufficient to say that they appeared to the President and the appro-
 priate agencies of the Government to amply justify the project, and therefore
 make it available for the work-relief program. And so it was authorized
 by the President under the provisions of the Emergency Relief Appropriation
 Act of 1965, and $5,400,000 was allotted to initiate the work. I understand
 that something like 17,000,000 cubic yards of earth have been removed, and
 that 6,000 men are at the present moment employed on this Job, and that it is
 admirably serving to relieve unemployment and stimulate trade and industry.
 Critics of the administration and opponents of the project itself have claimed
 that it should not have been started because either it is unsound or because
 its construction might do certain damage to the water supply of a portion of the
 State of Florida. It is not my purpose to argue here the merits of these
 questions which have been raised. I desire to point out, however, that years
 of careful and most exhaustive study by the Army engineers and other agencies
 of the Government were given to these very questions and unless the Army
 engineers and these other authorities are entirely mistaken, the objections to
 the project cannot be well founded. In any event, it is self-evident that the
 President Insisted upon careful examination and was entirely satisfied before
 he authorized this project.
 However, all of these questions will be duly considered by the Committee
 on Rivers and Harbors when they have received the final report of the Army
 engineers. The House will have ample opportunity to discuss and decide these
 questions at the next or succeeding sessions, for, of course, this project will
 continue to follow the routine prescribed for rivers and harbors projects. Any
 regular appropriations for this project, when and if they are made, will come
 before Congress for decision in the future.
 The present amendment does not relate to these questions. It is an entirely
 different question which we have to decide at the present moment--that is,
 whether these 6,000 men shall be arbitrarily thrown out of work, the Govern-
 ment forced to find other work relief for them, millions of dollars wasted,
 and work on this particular project for the time being abandoned. This
 amendment provides for a special board of review to be constituted by the
 President This board shall consist of competent engineers, no one of which
shall be In the employment of the Federal Government or the State of Florida,