Senate Approves Strong Funding for USACE

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.

 

“Strong, effective leadership was demonstrated today in negotiating and passing this important appropriations bill that offers record funding to modernize our Nation’s inland waterways transportation system. Recapitalizing this critical link in the transportation supply chain enables the U.S. to be prepared for expected export growth,” Toohey said Thursday.

 

Also praising the bill's passage was the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle, who also commended the work of Mikulski, Alexander, Feinstein and McConnell as well as Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

 

“This is extremely important legislation that will aid our economy and environment, and the ability of America’s ports to handle increasingly larger cargo and passenger ships,” Nagle said. “It reflects substantial advocacy by AAPA and our member seaports to appropriate crucial funding to maintain and improve our nation’s navigation infrastructure and provide more donor equity."

 

“We now look to the House leadership to bring this bipartisan bill to the House floor for a vote soon,” he added.

 

Of the bill’s passage, on the Senate floor Alexander said it was “an excellent result for the American people.”

 

The overall size of the Corps’ Civil Works mission portion of the Senate bill is $6 billion and adds $1.380 billion to the Administration request.

 

The bill increases the Construction account funding level by $723.65 million to $1.81 billion.

 

Within the Construction account, $375.65 million is made available for Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) priority navigation projects, an amount that makes full use of estimated Inland Waterways Trust Fund annual revenues. Commercial operators support that fund through a 29-cent-per-gallon fuel tax that pays for half of new construction and major rehabilitation on the inland waterways system. Among the priority navigation projects, Olmsted Lock/Dam will receive $225 million, per the President’s request, with additional potential funding for the other projects to be allocated by the Secretary of the Army taking into account WRRDA 2014 priorities.

 

Investigations receives $126.5 million, which is $41.5 million above the FY ’17 request by the Administration.

 

On the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP), WCI is requesting that $10 million be dedicated to Pre-Construction Engineering and Design (PED) for NESP, but the Secretary of the Army will also decide whether to allocate these funds.

 

The Corps’ Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account funding level is a record level at $3.17 billion, nearly $467 million higher than the Administration’s requested level. Additional O&M money was provided at $700 million for flood storm damage risk reduction, shore protection, aquatic ecosystem restoration, and related Corps mission projects as authorized by law.

 

Surpassing the WRDDA 2014 target, $1.3 billion is provided from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF).

 

Mississippi Rivers & Tributaries (MR&T) receives $368 million for flood damage risk reduction efforts.