(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter, top Republican on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee is pushing the Senate Appropriations Committee leadership to set the funding levels for harbor maintenance at the levels authorized in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), which Vitter passed and had signed into law this year. Vitter led 19 Senators in a bipartisan letter urging to get this right.

“One out of every six American jobs depends on trade and maritime commerce, and $180 billion of goods per year travel on American waterways, to and from American ports,” Vitter said. “It’s vital to our economy to keep our ports and waterways properly dredged and maintained. We worked hard to get the correct funding levels authorized in WRRDA, and we need to see to it that we honor the commitment of that law.”

Below is a copy of Vitter’s letter. Also signing his letter were Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bill Nelson (R-Fla.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
November 20, 2014

The Honorable Barbara A. Mikulski Chairwoman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
S-128, U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Richard C. Shelby
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Appropriations
S-128, U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Chairwoman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
186 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Lamar Alexander
Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
186 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairwoman Mikulski, Ranking Member Shelby, Chairwoman Feinstein, and Ranking Member Alexander:

Thank you for your efforts to increase U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works program harbor maintenance funding in your annual Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies (E&W) Appropriations Acts.

We write to request that when you enter into negotiations with your House counterparts to complete Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) annual appropriations legislation you support a final FY15 harbor maintenance funding level that was authorized under Section 2101(b) of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA 2014). That section established a 10-year path to fully use Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) collections for their intended purpose, with FY15 being the first year. It would be unfortunate if Congress failed to hit the HMT target just seven months after passing this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support. We also ask that the funding be provided only for authorized harbor maintenance.

More than $1.8 billion in annual HMT revenue is being collected specifically to meet the nation’s annual authorized harbor maintenance needs for harbors of all sizes. Unfortunately, annual appropriations have been significantly less than annual collections, resulting in harbors and navigation channels getting narrower and shallower due to accumulating sediment, declining dredged material disposal area capacity and deteriorating harbor structures such as breakwaters and jetties due to inadequate funding.

Harbors and navigation channels are a vital part of our nation’s transportation infrastructure, and the elimination or reduction in their capacity can have significant impacts on local communities and economies as well as the national economy. WRRDA 2014 recognizes the national need to increase use of HMT collections to benefit all navigation projects, high and moderate use, emerging, underserved and Great Lakes ports, along with expanded uses at donor ports. The Army Corps of Engineers has reported that nationwide authorized channel depths are available about half of the time, and then only over half of the channel’s width. This drives up the cost of U.S. exports and imports, which threatens U.S. economic growth, and increases the risk of vessel groundings and associated oil spills. Many U.S. exports compete in a very price-sensitive global market where transportation inefficiencies mean losing business to other countries. It is vitally important that the WRRDA HMT commitment be met.

While addressing increased funding is difficult, in part because of inadequate Administration funding requests, the United States should not miss opportunities to spur economic growth, improve our global competitiveness and create jobs. We urge you to work with the House to craft a final FY15 E&W Appropriations bill (or title within an omnibus appropriations bill) that meets the FY15 harbor maintenance spending target and allocation provisions under Sections 2101(b) and 2102, respectively, of WRRDA 2014 to maintain the nation’s shipping channels, our nation’s gateways to the global marketplace.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

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