On Friday, July 8, the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing on H.R. 104, the “Realize America’s Maritime Promise (RAMP)” Act, which was introduced by Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) to require that all revenue in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) is invested in U.S. harbor construction and maintenance.
Currently, only two out of the ten largest ports in the United States are at their authorized depths and widths. The annual revenue coming into the HMTF is enough to keep all ports at their authorized limits, however, much of this revenue is being withheld from dredging activities to offset unrelated federal spending. Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH) expressed his support for the bill saying, “Unless the issue of channel maintenance is addressed, the reliability and responsiveness of the entire intermodal system will slow economic growth and threaten national security. Only if our ports and waterways are at their authorized depths and widths will products be able to move to their overseas destinations in an efficient and economical manner.”
H.R. 104 has gained wide bipartisan support with more than 100 cosponsors in the House. A markup of the legislation was scheduled to occur after the hearing; however, it was postponed until a later date. More information on the hearing, including testimony of today’s witnesses, can be found here.
For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.
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