Upper Mississippi River locks modernization, already delayed for years, need not wait for a politically-tenuous deal on a massive infrastructure bill. That, from lawmakers and lobbyists pushing for current locks funding.
President Trump is expected to stress in his state of the union message at the end of the month the importance of waterways infrastructure and a sweeping new infrastructure package that remains contentious over its funding.
But, lawmakers and lobbyists pressing the White House to request Upper Mississippi locks money argue funding should not have to wait while Democrats and Republicans fight it out over whether to fund such projects publicly, privately, or both.
Waterway’s Council Senior Vice-President Debra Calhoun on a recent bipartisan Senate letter to the White House budget director:
Congress okayed work to upgrade Upper Mississippi River locks and dams and restore the river environment more than 10-years a, but never appropriated funding. The senators argue the river's locks have exceeded their design life by decades, causing expensive closures and limiting overall capacity. Calhoun says the new work is critical for agriculture:
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The White House is expected to soon release the broad outlines of the president’s infrastructure plan that would be funded with some 200 billion in federal ‘seed money’ and other incentives to leverage 800-billion in private funding. Democrats want a federally-funded building program.
The White House is expected to soon release the broad outlines of the president’s infrastructure plan that would be funded with some 200 billion in federal ‘seed money’ and other incentives to leverage 800-billion in private funding. Democrats want a federally-funded building program.