Letter to the Hon. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States - Army Corps of Engineers Nomination

Letter

Dear President Trump,

As members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we write in support of swift action to nominate an Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (ASA-CW) to lead the critical missions of the Army Corps of Engineers -- Civil Works (Corps).

The Corps has a significant role to play in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. The agency owns and operates more than 600 dams, operates and maintains 25,000 miles of commercial navigation channels, maintains more than 900 coastal and inland harbors, and is integrally involved in much of the regulatory processes that must be followed and completed before projects can move forward.

We believe that streamlining much of the Corps' regulatory responsibilities can save taxpayers millions of dollars and help get projects off the ground and completed much more quickly. While Congress will have the opportunity to make such changes in statute, we embrace the opportunity to work with your administration and particularly a new ASA-CW to improve the implementation of existing regulations and permissions related to infrastructure projects.

We also have concerns that, under the previous administration, the Corps began to move away from its true missions, placing less priority on actually building projects and enabling private investment in infrastructure to move forward. It is therefore of great importance that the new ASA-CW is an outsider who recognizes the need for transformational change within the Corps, and who is willing to work with Congress to make those changes come to fruition.

We share your goal of making significant investments in our nation's infrastructure, and look forward to working with you to that end. In order to ensure the most prudent and efficient use of taxpayer dollars on much of these critical investments, we respectfully ask that you move expeditiously to nominate an ASA-CW.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,