Hopeful signs are emerging on Capitol Hill that Congress will pass a Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, this year, just two years after the last one became law. But the path is by no means clear for a 2016 bill, which would authorize funds for new Army Corps of Engineers civil-works projects. Political parties’ conventions and election campaigning will cut the Hill calendar short. Partisan battles also may slow legislative action.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a key WRDA player, is upbeat. “We are back on schedule to pass a WRDA bill every two years,” he said at a March 16 hearing. The panel’s top Democrat, Barbara Boxer (Calif.), added, “There is nothing standing in our way. I’m very hopeful we can really have a strong WRDA bill.” There were seven-year gaps between the past three water-resources bills. From 1988 through 2000, the intervals were one to four years.