Posted on March 30, 2022
The Biden-Harris Administration today submitted to Congress the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. The President’s Budget details his vision to expand on the historic progress our country has made over the last year and deliver the agenda he laid out in his State of the Union address—to build a better America, reduce the deficit, reduce costs for families, and grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out.
“The Army Civil Works FY 2023 Budget — which on the heels of the transformative investments of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act — continues to focus on investments that yield high economic and environmental returns, while building resilience to climate change, promoting environmental justice and increasing opportunities to work with disadvantaged communities,” said Michael L. Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
The Budget makes critical investments in the American people that will help lay a stronger foundation for shared growth and prosperity for generations to come. At the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works, the Budget would:
- Increase Resiliency to Climate Change. The Budget invests in improving the Nation’s water infrastructure, while incorporating climate resilience efforts into the Corps’ commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration work. It invests in programs that will help local communities identify and address their risks associated with climate change and improve the resilience of Corps infrastructure to climate change, including taking climate resilience into account when selecting projects. The Budget includes funding to investigate climate resilience along the Great Lakes coast as well as in Central and Southern Florida, support technical and planning assistance programs that help local communities identify and address their risks associated with climate change, and incorporate climate resilience into the policy guidance for, and planning of, future projects.
- Support the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative through investments in projects that benefit disadvantaged communities by increasing their resilience to climate change. In the FY 2023 Budget, the Corps is committed to securing environmental justice and spurring economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened and funds will be used to ― 1) improve outreach and access to Civil Works information and resources; 2) improve access to Civil Works technical assistance programs (e.g., Planning Assistance to States and Floodplain Management Services) and maximize the reach of Civil Works projects to benefit the disadvantaged communities, in particular as it relates to climate resiliency; and, 3) ensure any updates to Civil Works policies and guidance will not result in a disproportionate negative impact on disadvantaged communities.
- Facilitate Safe, Reliable and Sustainable Commercial Navigation. The Budget includes over $3 billion for the study, design, construction, operation and maintenance of inland and coastal navigation projects. These significant investments will facilitate safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable commercial navigation at our Nation’s coastal ports and inland waterways. Nearly $14 million will be provided from the IWTF, and $1.7 billion from the HMTF, which the Budget proposes to execute within the trust fund accounts rather than to transfer and execute them from the other appropriations accounts.
- Reduce the Risks associated with Riverine and Coastal flooding. The Flood Risk Management program is funded at over $1.5 billion in the FY 2023 Budget. The program is a collaborative effort that integrates the flood risk management projects, programs, and authorities of the Corps with those of other federal agencies, and state, regional and local agencies.
- Restore Aquatic Habitat where the Aquatic Ecosystem Structure, Function and Processes Have Degraded. The FY 2023 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration program is funded at $624 million in the Budget. The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to restore degraded ecosystem structure, function, and/or process to a more natural condition. The Budget includes $407 million for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (SFER) (Everglades) program, in addition to funding previously provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation to enable significant progress on this program.
The Budget makes these smart investments while also reducing deficits and improving our country’s long-term fiscal outlook.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program works with other Federal agencies, and with State, Tribal, and local agencies and others to develop, manage, restore, and protect water resources primarily through the construction, operation and maintenance, and study of water-related infrastructure projects, as well as by regulating development in waters of the United States, and working with other Federal agencies to help communities respond to, and recover from, floods and other natural disasters.
For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program, the Budget would provide over $6.6 billion in gross discretionary funding that would be distributed among the appropriations accounts as follows:
- Investigations $105,910,000
- Construction $1,221,288,000
- Operation and Maintenance $2,599,047,000
- Regulatory Program $210,000,000
- Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) $225,000,000
- Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program $250,000,000
- Expenses $200,000,000
- Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies $35,000,000
- Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) $10,000,000
- Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works $5,000,000
- Inland Waterways Trust Fund $13,755,000
- Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund $1,726,000,000
- TOTAL $6,601,000,000
The Budget includes two previously unfunded programs and projects within the Investigations account — Sacramento River, Yolo Bypass, CA (Flood Damage Reduction); and Whitney Lake, TX (Water Storage for Water Supply). Four construction projects are funded to completion in the Budget – Chickamauga Lock, Tennessee River, TN; Corpus Christi Ship Channel, TX (Main Channel and Barge Lanes); American River, Natomas Basin, CA; and Pipestem Lake, ND.
For more information on the President’s FY 2023 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/. The FY 2023 Civil Works budget press book is also available at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx, under the heading Program Budget: Press Books.
