Water Resources Development Acts Move Through House & Senate Committees
May 24, 2018
Both the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (EPW) and the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) held mark-up hearings this week for its respective WRDA bills. Two weeks ago, ASCE President Kristina Swallow testified at the Senate EPW Committee’s first hearing on the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. ASCE sent the......
Congress Begins WRDA 2018 Discussions
January 19, 2018
This week, the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing entitled “America’s Water Resources Infrastructure: Approaches to Enhanced Delivery Systems.” Witnesses at the hearing included Major General Donald E. Jackson, the Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers......
Democrats’ Infrastructure Blueprint Furthers Legislative Conversation
January 26, 2017
Days after President Trump was the first to use the word “infrastructure” in an inaugural address, Senate Democrats doubled-down on his promise to invest in infrastructure by offering their own plan to increase investment by $1 trillion over 10 years, and purportedly create more than 15 million new jobs in the process. The plan, led......
December 02, 2016
With plans for Congress to adjourn at the end of next week, the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 is still waiting for final passage. The bill is being conferenced by the House and Senate, which has been making good progress on a compromised bill that incorporates parts of each chamber’s version of WRDA. However,......
Stakeholders Weighing on Final Water Resources Package
November 03, 2016
As the last remaining standalone infrastructure bill with a chance of becoming law this year, stakeholders for the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016 are beginning to double down on their priorities by weighing in with the leaders charged with reconciling difference in the House passed and Senate passed versions. The House and Senate......
October 20, 2016
Earlier this week, the Center for American Progress(CAP) released a report on U.S. dams, Aging Dams and Clogged Rivers: An Infrastructure Plan for U.S. Waterways. The report makes the economic case for the need to increase investment in our infrastructure, citing ASCE’s Failure to Act economic study that found we’re currently paying about half our......
September 29, 2016
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5303 the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 late yesterday afternoon by a vote of 399-25. The $11.5 billion bill authorizes over three dozen Army Corps of Engineers flood control, navigation and ecosystem restoration projects and studies across the country. In addition to the base text reported out......
New Report Highlights Limitations of National Levee Safety Initiative
August 17, 2016
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report surveying the progress the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have made carrying out the National Levee Safety Program. The conclusion: the Agencies “have made little progress in implementing key national levee-safety-related activities required in the Water Resources Reform and Development......
Talk to your Members of Congress About Infrastructure this Recess
July 21, 2016
Members of Congress headed home (and to their respective national conventions last week) and won’t return to Washington until after Labor Day. This gives you, as an infrastructure advocate, the opportunity to talk with your federal lawmakers about our nation’s “D+” infrastructure and specific legislation that they can pass this year to help improve it.......
Momentum for Water Resources Bill Builds; 30 Republican Senators Urge Floor Time
June 30, 2016
While gun control and a Puerto Rico debt restructuring package were the central focus of the Senate in the last 10 legislative days, momentum for bringing a major, bipartisan water resources bill to the Senate floor before summer recess is growing in the halls of Congress. Efforts to bring S.2848 the Water Resources Development Act......