House Passes WRDA Bill
Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI ) commended the bipartisan approval last night by the U.S. House of Representatives of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The legislation authorizes critically important projects on the inland waterways including the modernization of seven locks along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and projects on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Bayou Sorrel and Matagorda Bay. The final vote was 381-40 to pass the WRDA conference report in the House, underscoring our Nation’s commitment to remain economically competitive.“The action taken in the House to pass WRDA should be applauded by the Nation as a whole,†said R. Barry Palmer, WCI President. “Modern and efficient locks and dams on our Nation’s inland waterways support the transport of critical commodities such as grain for export, coal for electric power generation, petroleum and chemical products and aggregates. Simply put, our country cannot compete without a modern navigation system,†Palmer said. “We look forward to similar overwhelming bipartisan action in the Senate to pass the WRDA conference report there as well and to sending the bill to the President for what our more than 300 members throughout the Nation sincerely hope will be his signature,†said Palmer.