The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2021 funding package for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, proposing $7.6 billion for USACE, about $1.7 billion more than the administration requested.
Accordingly, the Waterways Council (WCI) reported that the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) projects will receive $1.7 billion, about $665 million more than the Trump administration’s FY2021 budget request.
In addition, the USACE will receive $17 billion in emergency funding – more than twice the agency’s top-line budget – to accelerate work on its current projects. The Construction account would receive $10 billion to speed up projects across all Corps mission areas, at least $3 billion of which is set aside for inland waterways projects. The bill also provides $5 billion in emergency funding for operations and maintenance. These funding levels are unprecedented, and they may face scrutiny when the bill proceeds to the full House and to the Senate.
In the meantime, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved this year’s draft of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), the recurring authorization bill for waterway projects.
The Committee removed the cap on spending from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF). Up to now, the fund has a surplus balance of about $10 billion, and WRDA 2020 would allow Congress to appropriate additional money for harbor maintenance from this amount.
Also, the bill would change the cost share for inland waterway infrastructure projects from the current 50/50 split to a ratio of 65% federal and 35% Inland Waterways Trust Fund, leveraging a larger federal share.
The bill also deauthorizes about $10 billion worth of old Corps projects and would require the Corps to reassess and update the economic and environmental impacts of antiquated projects before they may be carried out.
