WRDA Passes Senate; Action Moves to House

AGC Advocacy Efforts Help Bring Large Bipartisan Victory On May 15, the Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (WRDA) by an 83-14 vote. Although the Senate passed the bill by a large, bipartisan margin, 14 senators voted against the bill. Those senators include: Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Lee (R-Utah), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Please click here to thank or to express disappointment to your senators on their vote. Throughout the Senate WRDA negotiations, committee process and floor debate, AGC fought for the interests of construction contractors. AGC helped lead multiple coalition efforts to press for WRDA passage in the Senate. AGC and more than 50 of its chapters joined more than 170 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 the Water Resources Coalition also sent letters to the Senate urging passage of WRDA. In addition to these efforts, AGC members sent hundreds of emails to their senators through AGC’s Legislative Action Center and met with Senators in person to press for WRDA passage in conjunction with the recent AGC Federal Contractors Conference in Washington, D.C. AGC fought for and against amendments to the WRDA bill that would impact contractors. First, AGC advocated for an amendment by Sen. Barrasso (R-Wy.) that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) from finalizing their proposed Final Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act (See story below). Ultimately, the Barrasso Amendment failed on a 52-44 vote, as the provision did not get the needed 60 votes to end debate.  AGC also advocated against an amendment by Sen. Coburn that would have allowed an executive branch commission to have limitless discretion to terminate authorized or funded Corps Civil Works projects, whether under study or ongoing. AGC warned that the Coburn Amendment would jeopardize and waste millions of taxpayer dollars already invested at all levels—federal, state, and local—of government. The amendment failed by a vote of 61-35. Action on WRDA now moves to the House, where almost half of the members were not in office for the last WRDA reauthorization in 2007. AGC has already begun its efforts to help these new congressmen understand the importance of adequately funding and streamlining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program through WRDA. For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.