Posted on August 7, 2022
July was a big month for appropriations news out of Washington, D.C. with the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate moving the process forward prior to the Congressional recess in August.
The House Appropriations Committee passed their version of the Energy & Water Development Appropriations bill on a 32-24 vote on June 28th. This bill was then forwarded to the full House of Representatives for a vote as part of an appropriations package that included five additional appropriations bills. The House of Representatives passed the six piece appropriations package on July 20th on a 220 to 207 vote.
Following the House of Representatives, the Senate Appropriations Committee released their Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill on July 28th. The good news is the Senate matched the President’s Request for the AIWW and NJIWW, and a state by state breakdown of the President’s budget, the House of Representatives bill, and the proposed Senate amounts are shown below. One item of note is the Florida allocation is different from the House of Representatives’ version as it includes an additional $2 million Community Project Funding Request (aka earmark) requested by Rep. Brian Mast.
In addition to direct appropriations for each state, the House and Senate bills also included Additional Funding for Navigation Maintenance, Inland Waterways, and Small, Remote or Subsistence Navigation. These funds would be allocated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the waterway is eligible to compete for funds in all three of these categories.
Below lists the different amounts proposed by Congress:
Navigation Maintenance: $40 Million in House Bill, $25 million in Senate Bill
Inland Waterways: $40 Million in House Bill, $15 million in Senate Bill
Small, Remote or Subsistence Navigation: $45 Million in House Bill, $56 million in Senate Bill
Looking ahead, it seems likely we could exceed $100 million in funding for the AIWW/IWW/NJIWW between FY22, FY23 and IIJA (Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act) funding IF the U.S. Senate passes the funding levels included in the proposed Senate Appropriations Committee Bill AND Congress passes the final Appropriations bill this year. At this point, the Senate is moving slower than the House and it is an election year so we should not expect a final FY23 Appropriations bill anytime soon, but we are encouraged with the final House version and the proposed Senate versions of the bill.
