Posted on May 5, 2025
The Executive Office of the President, Office of Managment and Budget (OMB) sent letters to the House and Senate on Friday, May 2, 2025, recommending discretionary funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Provided therein, is over $1 Billion in cuts from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The OMB, as an agency, has a long and complex history with respect to balances in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
In reviewing the letters, DCA’s William Doyle noted, “We’ll figure it out. One thing you don’t do is start whining and complaining about White House policy proposals to the Trump guys — that’ll get you nowhere. Instead, they want to hear real ideas and solutions.”
Dredging is a vitally important national program. Every port in the United States including on the coasts, rivers, and Great Lakes needs dredging. Dredging is a bipartisan matter. Mr. Doyle stated, “Congress writes the budget, we’ll be speaking with both sides of the aisle – they all want their ports in tip top shape, shoaling removed from the Mississippi River, LNG exports moving, and deepening and widenings completed – and that all means dredging.”
President Trump knows the importance of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for the nation. The Pacific Norwest (PNW) of the United States does as well, including the congressional delegations from Washington and Oregon. They have been pointing out for over a decade that carriers skip their ports and instead unload U.S. destined cargo in the Canadian ports of Metro Vancouver and Prince Rupert so that shippers can avoid the harbor maintenance fees.
Mr. Doyle finished, “In President Trump’s Executive Order ‘Restoring America’s Dominance,’ he requires the Department of Homeland Security to enforce collection of HMTF fees from shippers who circumvent the fund by routing goods to ports in Mexico and Canada and then sending the cargo into the United States via land borders.”
The Dredging Contractors of America will work with the Trump Administration and Congress during the entire budgeting process.
