American Soybean Association (ASA) Washington staff participated in the Waterways Council meeting in Washington, D.C. this week.  Several members of Congress spoke at the meeting, including Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH) who is Chairman of the Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) who is also a member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

The group also heard from Major General John Peabody, Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as a panel of congressional staffers from the House Transportation Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Members of Congress and the staff indicated that the conference committee on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) was moving in a positive direction and they expect to wrap up soon, hopefully within the next month or two.

The Waterways Council members were also making visits to congressional offices to push the group’s priorities, which include finishing the WRDA conference, addressing the need for an increase in revenue for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) and continued increases in annual appropriations to implement the positive funding and policy changes made in the House and Senate WRDA bills.

The recently passed omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014 included increased funding for the Corps of Engineers Civil Works programs, a funding shift for the Olmstead Lock & Dam project that will free up more dollars for other IWTF projects, and increased use of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund dollars for dredging and port maintenance.  These provisions reflect the direction of the House and Senate WRDA bills and are a positive indication of the direction that Congress is going with regard to waterways infrastructure funding. However, the provisions in the appropriations bill are only for FY2014 and enactment of the final WRDA Conference Report is needed to establish these changes for future years.