The Waterways Council is monitoring a pair of infrastructure bills making their way through Congress. In the House, Transportation Committee Chair Peter Defazio is sponsoring the Invest in America Act. Waterways Council Interim President and CEO Deb Calhoun says they would have liked to have seen inland waterways funded in that measure but that was left out.
She says the other measure they’re monitoring is the Water Resources Development Act being put forward in the Senate.
Calhoun says the funding match called for in the Senate’s WRDA legislation was 50 percent general revenue and 50 percent from the Diesel Fuel Tax Fund. She says her group wanted to see that adjusted.
Calhoun says having the funding adjusted to a 65-35 percent figure is still positive and if passed will help to advance and modernize inland waterway projects more effectively.