Posted on August 2, 2023
On July 20th, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee passed the FY24 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill which provides funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Operations and Maintenance of the Waterway. The Senate bill report with individual project allocations can be found here. As reported last month, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee passed their version of the FY24 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill on June 22nd.
The Senate FY24 appropriations bill did not include any Congressionally Directed Spending requests (i.e. earmarks) for the AIWW/IWW or NJIWW so the state allocations match the House version and the original President’s budget request as shown below. However, the Senate allocations for the Additional Dredging needs funding pots were different than the House version, and in the case of Small, Remote and Subsistence Navigation much higher. These funds provide an opportunity for the waterway to receive additional funding, details below:
State Allocations:
VA – ACC Canal – President Budget Amount – $3.505 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $3.505 million
VA – Dismal Swamp Canal – President Budget Amount – $1.797 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $1.797 million
NC – President Budget Amount – $6.373 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $6.373 million
SC – President Budget Amount – $8.52 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $8.52 million
GA – President Budget Amount – $4.028 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $4.028 million
FL – President Budget Amount – $4.054 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $4.054 million
Total for AIWW/IWW – President Budget Amount – $28.277 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $28.277 million
NJIWW – President Budget Amount – $2.852 million, House and Senate Appropriations Bill amount – $2.852 million
Funding pots allocations:
Additional Dredging Needs for Navigation Maintenance: House- $20 million, Senate- $10 million
Additional Dredging Needs for Inland Waterways: House- $40 million, Senate- $10 million
Additional Dredging Needs for Small, Remote and Subsistence Navigation: House- $65 million, Senate- $178 million
These funding pots would be allocated by the Corps at a later date. However, since the Senate and House numbers are different, there will be negotiated changes before they would be included in the final appropriations bill.
The next step is for the respective bills to be reviewed and passed by the full House of Representatives and Senate prior to the beginning of the next fiscal year which starts on October 1. However, Congress is currently on August recess and will not return until after Labor Day. This leaves only a small window to pass all 12 appropriations bills. If the House and Senate do not complete their work by September 30th, they will have to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open. It is very unlikely that the Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill can be passed by September 30th. Fortunately, many waterway projects are currently underway or scheduled to be under contract by the end of September. We will continue to monitor the process and provide updates in our September newsletter.
