WRDA Hits Senate Floor

This week on the Senate floor, Senators debated amendments to S. 601 – the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (WRDA). Debate is expected to continue through early next week. Please TAKE ACTION NOW and urge your senators to pass WRDA. If passed, WRDA will help provide funding to address our nation’s aging navigational system of inland waterways, coastal harbors and ports, locks and dams, and flood control protections. It will also provide funding for the restoration of many critical environmental areas in our country. The provisions within this WRDA bill represent months of bipartisan effort and compromise that will help allow for critical water resources project investments and timelier project delivery. For example, the bill would authorize projects without the use of earmarks, but rather through a process of authorizing completed Chief of Engineers reports that have been referred to Congress by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works by the date of enactment. The bill would also help ensure that the nation’s harbor and port navigation channels are fully maintained by expending Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund revenues for their authorized and intended purpose by FY 2019. Lastly, a provision in this measure would allow for the leveraging of government funds for water infrastructure projects through an innovative financing pilot project program that can help our nation meet its infrastructure improvement needs. AGC continues to actively engage Congress on this important piece of legislation. On May 8, AGC sent a letter to Senators highlighting the need for WRDA and the merits of this bill. AGC has helped lead multiple coalition efforts to press for WRDA passage. Recently, AGC and 50 of its chapters joined a total of 168 organizations—comprised of construction industry associations, labor unions and farm groups, among others—in a letter supporting Senate passage of the WRDA bill. The AGC co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition and Water Resources Coalition also plan to send letters to the Senate urging passage of WRDA. In addition to these efforts, AGC members from across the country stormed Capitol Hill to press for WRDA passage in conjunction with the recent AGC Federal Contractors Conference in Washington, D.C. Your contractor voice is essential to highlight the importance of WRDA reauthorization. Again, NOW is the time to TAKE ACTION and urge your senators to pass WRDA. For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at (703) 837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.