WASHINGTON D.C. (NEXSTAR) — While this year’s historic floodwaters have mostly receded across the country, thousands of homes in the South Mississippi Delta are still underwater.

The state’s two Republican Senators are working to help them.

“My colleagues might ask how can an area more than 11 times the size of DC remain underwater for nearly seven months.”

Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith stood on the dry ground of the Senate floor to fight for the thousands of her constituents still impacted by flooding.

“You see dead wildlife floating on the floodwaters. You see coffins.”

Fellow Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker joined his colleague to call for what they say is the only solution in the Yazoo Backwater Area: pump out the water.

“We’re the only state that still after this entire time doesn’t have the pump that has been promised to us.”

Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start work on the pump project nearly 80 years ago.

But in 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency stopped it with a veto because of concerns over the project’s impact on wetlands.

Hyde-Smith and Wicker just introduced legislation to overturn the EPA’s decision.

“The arguments I have heard in opposition to this project are not valid. Pumps will save lives, property, local infrastructure, wildlife, and the environment.”

The two senators argue the project would ultimately free up more resources to help other states recover from natural disasters of their own.