The House passed the bipartisan Water Resources and Reform Development Act, commonly known as WRRDA, this week.
It’s not known when the bill will reach the Senate for a vote, but Larry Innis, legislative affairs director for the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, says it should be within days.
Innis said the passage of “the important funding bill for Corps of Engineers dredging projects” was good news.
Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said in a statement that her role in the bill’s passage was to help the Great Lakes be designated as a single comprehensive navigation system, “allowing the Great Lakes to present a unified front when competing against coastal regions for federal funding and resources.”
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued a statement after the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 3080, or WRRDA.
In May, the Senate passed S. 601, the bipartisan Water Resources and Development Act, by a vote of 83 to 14. Boxer will be chairwoman of the Senate-House conference committee that will reconcile the two versions of the water resources legislation.
“I am so pleased that the House passed its water resources bill today so that we can move forward with the House-Senate conference as soon as possible,” Boxer said in a statement. “We must invest in our nation’s flood control projects, navigation routes and ports, and ecosystems. Passage of the House bill is a critical step to getting this job-creating legislation to the president’s desk.”
