House & Senate Reach Deal on WRDA; Graves Gets Waiver to Stay as T&I Committee Chair

The bipartisan leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee announced a deal this week on a final version of the biennial Water Resources Development Act for 2024.

The bill would authorize 162 new feasibility studies and 21 project authorizations for ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, along with reforms to the Army Corp of Engineers’ programs and processes. It also includes nearly 200 projects in 31 states to improve water and wastewater infrastructure, water supply, and stormwater management.

Lawmakers also included reauthorizations for the National Dam Safety Program and Economic Development Administration.

Importantly, WRDA 2024 also includes the Fiscally Responsible Highway Funding Act of 2024, legislation aimed at addressing the challenges faced by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) due to the increasingly large amounts of highway funding subject to the annual August Redistribution Process. The bill redistributes excess TIFIA contract authority back to the states through the formula program, which will provide State DOTs with greater funding certainty and ease the burden of August Redistribution in a responsible way. According to AASHTO, the bill makes available $1.8 billion of existing and stagnant TIFIA funding to the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP). In addition, the bill will transfer 75 percent of any future unused amounts out of the $250 million provided to TIFIA in each of FY 2025 and 2026.

ACEC strongly supports the WRDA bill and is encouraging House and Senate leaders to get it to the president’s desk as soon as possible. A vote is expected in the House early next week, with Senate action to follow. A letter of support was sent to House and Senate leaders from ACEC on December 5.  Read the letter here.

More information, including bill text and a section-by-section summary, is available here.

The House Republican Steering Committee also approved a waiver this week for Congressman Sam Graves (R-MO) to remain as chairman of the House T&I Committee. Chairman Graves was term limited under GOP rules, serving as the top Republican on the panel for the last six years, but his colleagues will permit him to stay on for an additional 2-year term. Reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs will be a topmost agenda item for the committee in 2025-26.

For more information on the WRDA bill, contact Jordan Baugh on our Advocacy team.