Barbara Mikulski News

The FY ’17 Energy & Water Development (E&WD) and Related Agencies appropriations bill has been approved by the U.S. Senate in a 90-8 vote, significantly increasing funding in Fiscal Year 2017 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program. The House version of this bill, which passed out of the Appropriations Committee last month, is awaiting floor action. Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) President Michael J. Toohey underscored the work of Chairman Cochran and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Senate E&WD Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), as well as Senate Majority Leader McConnell, that was key to the passage of this strong funding bill.

The Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) praised the bipartisan leadership of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Vice Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Senate Energy & Water Development (E&WD) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for the 30-0 vote approving the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill that increases funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program. The Corps’ Civil Works mission funded in the Senate bill is $6 billion, an increase of $11 million above the FY 2016 enacted level, and $1.378 million above the President’s budget request. It restores the 23 percent cut to the Corps’ budget proposed by the Administration for FY ’17.

Today WCI applauded the leadership of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Senate Energy & Water Development (E&WD) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) for the 26-4 vote approving the FY 2016 appropriations bill that increases funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program. The overall size of the Corps’ Civil Works mission portion of the Senate bill is $5.499 billion and adds $768 million to the Administration request. “Important to (the) American commerce and public safety, the committee rejects the President’s budget recommendation to cut Army Corps of Engineer(s)…

You are not alone if you are bewildered by the talk in Washington about “sequester,” “continuing resolution”, “fiscal cliff,” “budget resolutions,” and “debt ceilings.”  Even those of us who think we understand what’s going on have trouble keeping up. This article will break down the talk into segments on the continuing resolution that funds the government for the rest of this fiscal year: the House and Senate budget resolutions, the upcoming debt ceiling fight; and, finally, the President’s budget request for FY2014. The focus is on maritime, transportation and energy programs.

The U.S. Navy's commissioned the latest guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) at 's Locust Point Cruise terminals Aug. 9 - the fourth time in naval history that a ship bears this name. The ship can now directly support the Navy's effort to execute the maritime strategy. During the ceremony, Greg Sterett, a descendant of the ship's namesake Lt. Andrew Sterett, was dressed in a colonial naval uniform, and left the 19th century warship USS Constellation, normally anchored in 's , to board the modern warship. He brought with him not just his family name, but the spirit of his ancestor.

Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. terrorist threats that face the nation. proposal. security the focused leadership and resources it demands,” Lieberman said. · $500 million to secure air cargo, as well as trains and mass transit systems. president made in port security, bio-terror preparedness, and first responder programs. equipment, training, and other preparedness activities. than $1.8 billion since FY 2002. obtain interoperable communications equipment. reduction in tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million a year. homeland,” Lieberman said. Durbin, D-Ill., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Bob Graham, D-Fla.

Ever since two enterprising reporters for the Baltimore Sun decided, in 1997, to take a closer look at ship scrapping, first at a Baltimore shipyard dismantling a Navy ship, and subsequently an in depth review of scrapping conditions in Alang, India, the light of public attention has been shining on this oldest of maritime practices. With this scrutiny, the world of scrapping ships will be forever changed — hopefully for the better. Following the end of the Cold War, the Navy's downsizing its fleet, and the requirement to replace tankers with more modern and environmentally safer ships, the demand to decommission and dispose of obsolete vessels is increasing at a pace more rapid than the capacity exists to handle this demand. Certainly, this is true in the U.