Chip Cravaack: “In March of this year, Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, testified before the House…”

“In March of this year, Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, testified before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment that the administration is preparing to plan draft legislation to expand the scope of projects eligible to receive Harbor Trust Fund moneys. In the hearing, Assistant Secretary Darcy alluded to the Administration's interest in using Harbor Trust Fund moneys for port security, among other things. While I fully support funding port security through the general appropriations process, I oppose the efforts to divert Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund moneys until the Federal Government demonstrates it has fully used these trust funds to their intended purpose, and that is dredging. As many of you know, the Harbor Maintenance Tax is an ad valorem tax assessed on the maritime shippers that use America's ports. By law, revenues of this user tax are to be dedicated to the United States Army Corps of Engineers' operations and maintenance budgets to ensure American navigation channels remain dredged to their authorized depths and widths. Despite the significant revenues and the roughly $6 billion supposed balance in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, our Nation's maritime infrastructure has largely fallen into disrepair. Only one-third of our Nation's navigation channels are at their authorized depths and widths.…”