"(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS—It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the existing revenue sources for inland waterways system construction and rehabilitation activities are insufficient to cover the costs of non-Federal interests of construction and major rehabilitation projects on the inland waterways system; and
(2) the issue described in paragraph (1) should be addressed."
This is only one small bit of a draft of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013, which is currently being marked up in the Senate and will cover everything from flood prevention to harbor restoration. Still, it’s striking.
Some backdrop: On Tuesday, the American Civil Society of Engineers came out with a big report noting that America’s inland waterways are in poor shape, earning a grade of D-. These navigable water channels, which carry $152 billion worth of goods each year, including grain and steel, are getting clogged and causing costly delays for businesses.
And it turns out that members of Congress do recognize this is a problem (even if it’s a relatively small one in the grand scheme of things). But in an age where raising more revenue is always a difficult task, lawmakers aren’t quite sure what to do about it.
The pointer for this passage, by the way, comes from Taxpayers for Common Sense, which is currently scouring through the Senate water-infrastructure bill and hunting for wasteful or other overly expensive projects in it.
Meanwhile, environmental groups and insurance companies are arguing that the larger water bill should be revamped to focus more on protecting coastal areas against climate change and storm-related damage. Zack Colman has much, much more on that battle here.
Written by: Brad Plummer
Original Publication URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/20/the-saddest-bill-in-congress/
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