The House Energy & Water Appropriations subcommittee this week passed its annual funding –including increased funding for U.S. Corps of Engineers projects that are priorities for soy growers.

The bill, passed by voice vote and sent to the full committee, will possibly be considered next week.

While the text of the bill is not yet publicly available, summaries released by the subcommittee indicate that the measure increases funding for the following Corps of Engineers functions that are priorities for ASA.

Within the Corps of Engineers Construction account, the subcommittee bill provides $340 million from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund for priority navigation projects.  The subcommittee indicated that this is the full amount of estimated annual revenue available from the Trust Fund.  The trust fund derives its revenues from the barge fuel fee that was increased by 9 cents/gallon last year.

The subcommittee also funds the Corps of Engineers Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account at $3.058 billion, the highest ever appropriated to this account in an annual appropriation bill, and the third consecutive year of record-level O&M funding.  The $3.058 billion is nearly $350 million higher than the level included in the Administration’s FY 2016 budget request.

The subcommittee bill funds the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) at a record $1.178 billion, which is $68 million or 5.2 percent higher than last year’s $1.1 billion, and well above the $915 million included in the Administration’s budget request.