Contact Your Member of Congress and Ask Them to Sign House Letter
Representatives Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) are currently circulating an AGC-supported letter urging appropriators to utilize Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) revenues at the levels set by the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA). WRRDA authorizes Congress to spend up to $1.25 billion—69 percent of HMTF revenues—on harbor maintenance activities in fiscal year (FY) 2016. However, the House Appropriations Committee must agree to actually spend that level of funding in FY 2016 for the promise in WRRDA to be realized. As such, AGC urges you to take action and urge your representative to sign onto the Boustany/Hahn letter to the House Appropriations Committee asking appropriators to spend HMTF revenues at the FY 2016 WRRDA levels.
The HMTF funds port and harbor dredging maintenance activities throughout the nation through revenues generated from a tax on shippers based on the value of the goods being shipped through ports. For many years, Congress has spent about half of the HMTF revenues on things other than harbor maintenance. WRRDA, which passed the House by a 412-4 vote last year, increased authorized funding of HMTF revenues for actual harbor maintenance through FY 2020 when all HMTF revenues are authorized for harbor maintenance activities.
Again, please take action and urge your Representative to sign onto the Boustany/Hahn letter.
For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.