Port officials have launched a heavy lobbying push to get Congress to boost fiscal year 2015 spending for dredging and other improvements. They want appropriators to approve spending that roughly equals the hike authorized in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, or WRRDA, signed in June.
The campaign, led by the American Association of Port Authorities, seeks about $1.17 billion in 2015 spending from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund—that's up from the $1.07 billion appropriated in 2014. WRRDA sets annually increasing trust-fund spending "targets," starting, in 2015, at 67% of harbor- maintenance tax receipts; that share would be about $1.2 billion. The 2025 target is 100% of receipts. But WRRDA funding, including the harbor-fund provision, requires annual appropriations.