Page 23: of Marine News Magazine (March 2021)

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Feature

Inland Waterways t was an odd legislative journey, but ultimately one critical changes to the two federal trust funds central to with a happy ending. That’s one way to sum up the waterway funding: the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund rather tortuous process that led to the passage of the (HMTF) and the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF).

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Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA). The HMTF is funded by taxes on the value of imports,

For the ? rst time WRDA (usually reauthorized every two certain domestic cargo and cruise passengers. As the name years) was not enacted as its own legislative bill. This time implies, it was created to pay for operations and mainte- it was rolled into the massive government 2021 omnibus nance costs of federal navigation channels; the fund pays budget bill, the ‘‘Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,’’ 100% of those costs.

signed into law on December 27. Because U.S. imports have increased at a rate faster than

Still, the WRDA text itself, with critical waterways and HMTF expenditures, the fund has built up an unspent harbor programs and policies, survived mostly intact, i.e., balance of around $9.3 billion. Why wasn’t this money as developed in previous months by House and Senate spent, you might ask? Recall that Congress, to keep over- transportation committees. all federal spending under control, sets limits, so-called spending caps, on discretionary federal programs. These

Money and policy: limits served to check HMTF disbursements all while the

I. Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund fund’s balance kept increasing.

Money’s important, right? Congress was generous. Criti- WRDA 2020 removes the HMTF spending caps, ac- cally, in addition to WRDA, the omnibus budget bill includ- tually a policy move that was ? rst made last year in the ed Energy and Water Development appropriations, the leg- CARES Act (the COVID-19 stimulus bill). WRDA con- islation that provides the money for projects and programs. ? rms and continues the CARES Act provision. Going for- (Congress can authorize funding for projects. But it’s another ward, additional HMTF money will not impact the calcu- legislative step that serves to appropriate, or fund, those au- lations that track and limit overall federal spending, i.e., thorized projects. Indeed, many projects are authorized but offsets will not be required elsewhere in the budget because never receive money via the appropriations process.) HMTF money is being spent.

For FY 21, the Army Corps of Engineers is funded at There’s more. Not only did Congress unlock this pot of $7.8 billion. That’s $1.83 billion more than what the Pres- money, it set directives to make sure the money gets spent. ident requested. The Construction account received $2.69 Previously, annual expenditures were set as a percentage of billion. Navigation more than $3.7 billion. the fund. In WRDA, Congress set dollar amounts. Going

The bill requires the administration to develop a work forward, expenditures need to equal the sum of the depos- plan, due to Congress within 60 days. That work plan will its that went into the fund two years prior ($1.8 billion be based on ACE Chief of Engineers’ project reports since in FY2019) plus an amount starting at $500 million in

WRDA 2018. The work plan will identify ports and wa- FY2021 and increasing by $100 million annually to $1.5 terways projects selected for construction (or maintenance, billion for FY2030 and thereafter.

for example, or navigation), including “new start” studies, This is big news. Christopher J. Connor, president of meaning projects that should be added to the Corps’ list of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) said work. ACE’s civil works historically have focused on proj- in a press release that full spending will allow a “major ex- ects that improve navigation, reduce ? ood risk and restore pansion to address the signi? cant backlog of navigation aquatic ecosystems. maintenance needed in harbors throughout the country. “New starts” highlights another difference compared to (This) is a giant plus to provide proper navigation mainte- the President’s budget, which didn’t request any new stud- nance nationwide.” ies or new projects. In contrast, WRDA requires seven new Tom Smith, executive director of the American Society projects and nine new studies, bringing new work into the of Civil Engineers (ASCE), said the trust fund changes will pipeline, so to speak. allow $2 billion annually to be spent on port and harbor

Where spending policies are concerned, Congress made dredging, which is, after all, the fund’s intended purpose. www.marinelink.com MN 23|