WRDA/WRRDA Conferees Hold Opening Meeting
Waterways Council Release
21 November 2013
With numerous declarations of support for the bipartisan water
resources bills that have passed their respective chambers, the
House and Senate conferees appointed to resolve the differences
between S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act, and HR 3080,
the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), pledged to
move forward in an expeditious manner to prepare a conference
report for final Congressional
approval.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee, serves as the conference committee
chair, with Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, serving as Vice
Chairman. Boxer touted WRDA as a great opportunity to show
how things can get done and thanked the 160 organizations who have
supported the legislation. Shuster tied moving the bills
forward to job creation and the nation’s economic
success.
Among the topics discussed at the meeting were the importance of
establishing a project authorization process that retains the
Congress’s Constitutional authority, the need to spend the
revenues from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, and the
importance of maintaining the inland waterways system.
While there is general agreement over the need to move forward
with the legislation, areas in dispute include the project
streamlining provisions, with assertions that they undermine
existing environmental laws; whether to establish a National
Endowment for the Oceans, included in the Senate bill, compared to
a House provision that would restrict the Corps’ participation in
the National Ocean Policy; and the Senate provision (section 2014)
that would permit reoperation of dams without Congressional
approval or cost-share
requirements.
The Senate will be in recess for 2 weeks – Thanksgiving week and
the following week, with the House scheduled to be out for one
week. Negotiations are expected to continue over the next
two weeks, as staff continues to meet on a regular basis. At
this point, both chambers are expected to adjourn on December
13th. The conference committee is not expected to meet again
publicly until it has agreed upon a conference report. While
there is some speculation that could come before December 13,
neither Sen. Boxer nor Rep. Shuster would make that commitment. We
will continue to keep you apprised of
developments.
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