Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support and as a cosponsor of the Huizenga-Hahn Amendment to increase funding in the 2016 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Operations and Maintenance Account by $36,306,000. This modest increase, offset by reducing funding for the Department of Energy, Departmental Administration, by $36.7 million, will benefit Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund related projects.

I have the good fortune to represent the city of Boston and its Port. Like many ports in this country, the port of Boston is vital to the local and regional economies, generating $2.4 billion in economic benefits annually and supporting 34,000 jobs.

In fact, every one of our 50 states relies on seaports for imports and exports, totaling some $3.8 billion worth of goods moving through U.S. seaports each day, supporting more than 13 million jobs across the country.

The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund was created in 1986 to ensure that we could maintain and expand our ports and harbors in order to facilitate commerce and drive our economy. For too long Congress has engaged in budgetary shell games, starving the fund and hampering our ability to undertake dredging projects critical to maintaining this vital infrastructure.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013, which the House passed overwhelmingly last year by a vote of 412-4, moved to rectify this situation by setting incremental target expenditures from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that reaches 80% in 2020.

Mr. Chair, our amendment is simply in line with the amount overwhelmingly supported by my colleagues, increasing from $1.178 billion to $1.25 billion the amount allocated from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, in order to support the critical needs of our nation's ports. The balance in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund at the beginning of fiscal 2016 will be approximately $8.9 billion. The money is there. With the re-opening of the Panama Canal slated for next year we need to re-double our efforts to make certain that U.S. ports are prepared for increased commercial opportunities and will remain competitive.

All of our constituents benefit from the success of U.S. ports. It is time that we provide the resources to ensure that success. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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