Congress Needs to Pass Supply Chain-Friendly Water Resources Bill

By JOHN CHAMBERS

The House and Senate have begun undertaking reauthorization of the “Water Resources Development Act” (WRDA). WRDA must be reauthorized every two years, and it provides critical funding for our nation’s water resources infrastructure.

The bill is traditionally passed with broad bipartisan support and ensures the United States’ ability to engage in the robust economic activity that sustains and supports Americans working in all sectors of the economy. AGC of America has published recommendations that Congress should consider when crafting the next WRDA. Our recommendations call for Congress to:

• Maintain the bipartisan tradition in passing WRDA, which has received broad support six consecutive times since 2014.
• Keep the focus on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on its projects. With more than a $100 billion backlog, Congress should resist efforts to expand the scope of the USACE mission.
• Avoid policies that would worsen supply chain constraints for materials used in water resources projects.
• Preserve flexibility for project sponsors to select workforce strategies
• that reflect local labor conditions and project needs, rather than imposing one-size-fits-all federal mandates.
• Provide additional funding for resiliency. Congress should also consider a coordinated national strategy to mitigate natural disaster damage that avoids burdensome, inflexible programs and policies.
• Expedite flood control repairs by allowing reimbursement of the federal share of rehabilitation expenses to nonfederal sponsors.
• Accelerate project delivery by implementing permitting reform efforts previously passed by Congress.
• Support the establishment of a Coastal Storm Risk Management Trust Fund, ensuring the construction, maintenance, repair and rehabilitation of our coastal storm risk management projects continues with a steady stream of revenue.
• Maintain the USACE mission and prohibit them from competing with the private industry when conducting dredging activities. The addition of new USACE-owned and operated dredges is an inefficient and unnecessary use of taxpayers’ dollars and doesn’t drive down the costs of projects, and private sector activities save an average of 25 percent per project.

A detailed list with more information on AGC’s WRDA priorities may

be found here.

John Chambers is the director of federal and infrastructure divisions at the Associated General Contractors of America.