Water Projects
Water Resources Bill Rolls Through House Passage
With the Midwest battered by floods recently, House Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said it was important to approve the WRDA bill rapidly.
Photo by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Legislation to fund more than $6 billion in Army Corps of Engineers flood control, coastal protection and other water projects is heading closer to the legislative finish line with the House’s passage of a new Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA.
The House approved the measure July 22 by a slam-dunk bipartisan vote of 359-13.
The WRDA authorizes about $6.3 billion in federal funds for new or modified Corps projects. One caveat is that the federal funds are subject to congressional appropriations. Competition for appropriations can be stiff.
The next congressional action for the WRDA is a vote by the Senate. That chamber’s Environment and Public Works Committee cleared its version of the legislation on May 22.
After Senate approval, House and Senate negotiators would then meet to work out differences between the two versions.
Marsia Geldert-Murphey, American Society of Civil Engineers president, said in a statement that the bill would improve ports, inland waterways, flood risk management and programs to reduce the risk of storms and put a priority on ecosystem restoration.
Geldert-Murphey also highlighted a provision to reauthorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Dam Safety Program through 2028. The authorization expired last Sept. 30.
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She said the House WRDA would trim restrictions on the level of funding states can receive in National Dam Safety Program State Assistance Grants.
Another plus, she said, is a provision to extend the National Levee Safety Program through 2033.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the lead author of the legislation, said he was “particularly proud” of several provisions that would benefit his region, which was hit hard by flooding earlier this year.
They include what Graves called “a new path forward for systemic flood control on the Upper Mississippi River” and “significant steps toward ensuring flood control and navigation are the top priorities on the Missouri River."
Legislators from both parties and in both chambers are aiming to see a new water resources measure enacted by the end of 2024. If they meet that goal, it would continue a 10-year string of enacting a WRDA every other year.
