The bipartisan Full Utilization of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act would use fees already collected by the U.S. Treasury for federal port and harbor maintenance.
Approximately $9.3 billion in revenue has been collected from shippers for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The revenue is intended for approved maintenance, but the federal government has not been using the funds.
Over the next decade, the bill would enable approximately $34 billion in expenditures. The expenditures are enough to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge all federal harbors.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA); Peter DeFazio (D-OR), House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman; Sam Graves (R-MO), the committee’s ranking member; Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment chairwoman; and Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the subcommittee’s ranking member.
“America’s ports and harbors are vital to the entire economy,” Graves said. “Farmers, manufacturers, and businesses across the country rely on ports for trade, and the products we all buy at the store on a daily basis have often traveled by water at some point to get there. When any portion of our national infrastructure system doesn’t function properly that raises the costs of goods for everyone.”