Larry Willis, president of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, published an open letter to Congress this week urging passage of H.R. 2440 — a bill that would reform the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
That trust fund levies a tax on goods arriving at the nation’s ports and harbors. Money raised through that fund is used for port and harbor improvement projects. The TTD believes the current iteration of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to be misused, or at least underutilized, and afflicted by poorly designed budget restrictions. This, legislation proponents said, has restricted the full expenditure on projects and led to backlogs of dredging efforts throughout the United States.
Despite this, the fund has a $9.3 billion unobligated balance.
“H.R. 2440 would allow these funds to be spent where they are needed, ensure that harmful delays in expenditures do not reoccur, and protect revenues from diversion to other budget items,” Willis wrote. “The improvements to our port and harbor infrastructure from these changes will be substantial, and the effects felt throughout many domestic industries connected by our multimodal freight network.”
The legislation was introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO), Subcommittee Chair Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Subcommittee Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR), and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA).