House Passes Marine Transportation Construction Bill

What happened: The House of Representatives passed a bill 384 to 37 to authorize 18 water transportation infrastructure projects for construction and move dozens of others forward in the planning process. The ARTBA co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition in a June 8 letter encouraged all House members to vote for the bill.

Why it matters: The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022 continues the biannual tradition of authorizing port, waterway, lock, dam, levee, and other water construction projects for federal investment. This builds on $17 billion in investments made in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act law for similar projects.

What’s next: The legislation now heads to the Senate, where a similar bill May 4 passed out of the Environment and Public Works Committee. If the bill is enacted by the president, the spending resources to meet the authorized project investment levels will still be required via the annual appropriations process.