Early this morning, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees unveiled the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. This 4155-page bill sets final spending levels for every area of government for federal fiscal year 2023, and includes all 12 regular appropriations bills. In a perfect world, these appropriations bills would have been enacted prior to October 1st, the beginning of the federal fiscal year. Instead, Congress enacted stopgap funding to keep the government operating while they continued working toward this final compromise. The bill is expected to be enacted by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Biden by midnight Friday, when current stopgap funding expires.
The massive package includes funding for a number of programs of particular interest to Great Lakes ports:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The bill provides $2.318 billion from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for the Corps' coastal deep draft navigation operation and maintenance program. This amount is in keeping with the targets established in the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA2020). In the Great Lakes these funds are used to dredge harbors and connecting channels, repair navigation structures such as breakwaters and jetties, and to operate and maintain locks.
The Corps estimates that there is a $930 million backlog of navigation maintenance work in the Great Lakes. Final amounts to be spent at each Great Lakes port and project will be determined once the Corps completes its workplan for FY2023. The legislation requires that such a workplan be provided within 60 days. AGLPA will distribute the final workplan once it is released by the Corps (probably February).
St. Lawrence Seaway
The legislation includes $38.5 million for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) in FY2023. The agency is responsible for managing U.S. portions of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects Great Lakes ports to global markets. Of amounts appropriated, at least $14.8 million must be spent on infrastructure maintenance at the agency's navigation locks in upstate New York. An additional $1 million has been provided by Congress for trade and economic development activities to be carried out in conjunction with system stakeholders. Over the last four years, Congress has provided a total of $6 million for enhanced trade development activities. In August, 2021, the agency released a trade and economic development strategic plan, which can be found here.
Special thanks go to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) for championing additional trade and economic development funding. The expansion of cargo through Great Lakes ports will result in more jobs on our docks and in our communities.
Maritime Administration
The bill provides $212.2 million for Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grants in FY2023. This is slightly less than the $234 million provided last year. It is important to keep in mind that these funds are the program's "baseline" funding level. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provided the program with an additional $450/year between 2022-26. Thus, total funding in FY2023 will be $212.2 million + $450 million = $662.2 million.
An additional $10 million is provided in the legislation for MARAD's marine highway program.
What Wasn't Funded?
The legislation does not include FY2023 construction funds in the Corps' budget for the new navigation lock at the Soo. Why? Last March when the Administration submitted its budget request to Congress, this project was thought to be fully funded. Thus, no funds were requested in the budget. In the spring we learned that the project cost had grown considerably and that additional appropriations would be necessary. However, the project had already hit its authorized spending cap and legally could not spend additional funds. Congress moved quickly to increase the project authorization from $922 million to $3.2 billion in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which was part of the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House passed the NDAA on December 8th, and the Senate passed it on December 15th. While President Biden is expected to sign the measure into law, he has not yet done so. Thus, as of today, the project cannot spend additional appropriations. Hopefully that will change soon. On October 3rd, the Biden Administration allocated an additional $214 million of IIJA funds for the project. These funds can be spent once the new project authorization takes effect.
The legislation also does not include funding for a new Great Lakes icebreaker. For several years the Great Lakes maritime industry has pushed for construction of a new heavy Coast Guard ice breaker at least as capable as the USCGC Mackinaw. Congress authorized construction of such a vessel in the NDAA at a total cost of $350 million. Funds must be provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to begin actual construction. AGLPA will continue to work with Lake Carriers Association and other industry partners to secure future funding.