Federal funding is crucial

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony. Interviewed afterwards, he promised to work hard to secure federal funds for the Raymondville Drain project.

"I intend to work hard every day to ensure the funding for this project is provided to the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. I think that with the devastations we have seen across the mainland, and in Puerto Rico, people nationally can see this is a good investment, the right investment to make. In the long-run it saves tons of federal resources. Think about it, if Houston had a better drainage system they probably would not have been underwater the way they were. I hope that never happens to us and that is why I intend to keep working on it," Gonzalez said.

Asked why the Raymondville Drain project has taken 30 years to get to phase one of construction, Gonzalez said: "They never had a right to reimbursement of federal funds before. This was before Judge (Ramon) Garcia's time as county judge. I do not believe it was in the agreement they would get reimbursed. I think it might have been an assumption. But, certainly, now for sure we can say this is a 75 percent reimbursement of a $400 million projected expense."