Water Resources Development Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, our inland waterways are a large and crucial part of our Nation's transportation system and facilitate billions of dollars of economic activity each year. In Iowa, agricultural producers as well as other shippers depend upon transportation along the Mississippi River and Missouri River to gain access to markets throughout the country and the world. The channels, locks, and dams throughout our inland waterways system are the infrastructural elements that allow the system to safely and efficiently support this activity. Without sustained financing through the inland waterways trust fund, this infrastructure cannot be properly maintained.

Today I want to bring my colleagues' attention to an amendment offered by Senator Casey to S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act. Senator Casey's amendment No. 854 takes an important step toward ensuring that the inland waterways trust fund can meet current and future infrastructure needs. While demands on the trust fund have greatly increased in recent years, the financing mechanism, a $0.20-per-gallon barge fuel tax, has not been raised since 1994. Senator Casey's amendment would strengthen the trust fund by raising the tax to $0.29. Many locks are already in such disrepair that catastrophic failure could occur in the near future. A lock failure would cause a loss of navigation along the system above that point, incurring serious economic losses. Not only is this fuel tax increase badly needed, it is widely supported by industries dependent upon our inland waterways, including the barge operating industry, which is directly impacted by the tax.

While it is unfortunate that Senator Casey's amendment could not be brought up for consideration, I hope its substance can become law in the coming months.

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