A puzzling FY 2024 president’s budget request

On March 9, the president released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget that proposes $7.4 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works program, an increase from FY23’s request of $6.6 billion, the largest request in recent memory.

A good news story on overall funding for the Corps, but as we peel away the layers of the budget request onion, a very disappointing tale as it pertains to funding from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) for ongoing and new construction and major rehabilitation projects on the inland waterways system. Out of the (at least) $125 million available in IWTF receipts, $0 was provided to perform work to construct locks or to do major rehabilitations.

At the Corps’ budget press briefing, Chief of Engineers General Scott Spellmon said the Corps does not have the capability to complete work on future projects and will instead focus on completing projects underway. However, the $0 request fails to fund any of the ongoing projects that need funding in FY24. This begs the question why one of the three goals for the Corps FY24 budget was to “strengthen the supply chain” yet this budget fails to fund a key element of the American supply chain. Should this budget request be accepted, it would set up a perfect storm for a growing surplus in the IWTF while the needs for the inland waterways system continue to multiply.

The last time we saw miniscule IWTF allocations in a president’s budget was FY 2019, when just $5.25 million of $121.2 million in IWTF receipts collected in FY19 was requested. The only project to be funded in that budget was Olmsted at $35 million to finally fund that project to completion.

This budget that provided zero dollars from the IWTF remains puzzling, while the equation is simple: America’s inland waterways system consists of many locks and dams that were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s that

While the reasons for the lack of spending are not entirely clear, inflation, supply chain delays, a sagging workforce, contracting issues and a sudden influx of funding from the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act are real considerations. But the longer infrastructure projects are delayed, the more expensive they become, as cost overruns increase. Navigation and other infrastructure projects are living on borrowed time.

A March 6 Wall Street Journal article titled “America Once Knew How to Build Infrastructure” said, “Despite advances in engineering, building methods and computers, one rail tunnel repair now costs 20 times what a brandnew tunnel cost a century ago and takes three times as long, if it ever happens. Construction timelines are measured in decades rather than years. Had the projects of the New Deal been done this way, they would have stretched into World War II and beyond.” require recapitalization. The IWTF receives taxes from commercial operators—the only users of the system to pay for new construction and major rehabilitation of locks—and has funds available for the Corps to continue its work to modernize the aging system. The adage “show me the money” does not apply, as the money has been shown to be available and ready to be deployed on key navigation projects that can begin to return transportation cost-savings and a multitude of other benefits to the nation.

Modern infrastructure is America’s ticket to compete on the world stage. Other countries are spending far more to rehabilitate their foundational systems and to invest in building brand new, high-tech locks, bridges, roads, railways and more.

TRACY R. ZEA President/CEO, Waterways Council Inc.