8/23/17 – 5:04 A.M.

It’s been 10 years since the devastating 2007 Blanchard River flood, and many questions remain. Today the Courier asks if our congressional representatives were doing their jobs when it comes to flood mitigation. Congressman Bob Latta and Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown have all talked about their frustration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Latta said the agency decides if a project gets funding.

A Boise State University professor who has written a book and essays about the corps disagrees. Todd Shallat tells the newspaper it was up to Latta to get funding through the House Appropriations Committee. Latta and Brown both disagree with that statement. Latta says former House speaker John Boehner banned earmarks in 2011. Before that he banned Republicans from seeking earmarks when he served as the minority leader.

Shallat counters that earmarks didn’t go away. He says Congress just started calling them something different.

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