River Improvements Backed in Congress

July 18, 2002

Six senators and 23 members of the House have signed letters supporting lock modernization on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The letters, sent to Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT), chairman of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, and Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, call for authorization of lock and dam modernization in a draft Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) for 2002.

WRDA legislation is taken up every two years to authorize new Army Corps of Engineers water projects and to review Corps policy. NCGA Director of Public Policy, Hayden Milberg, said the letters show strong support from Congress to improve the Upper Mississippi River System, something many agricultural groups support.

A draft WRDA bill was scheduled to be marked up last week but was delayed, and further action has to be rescheduled.

Senators signing the letter to Jeffords include Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO), Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA).

The Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri House Delegations sent individual delegation letters. Signing the Illinois letter Reps. Tim Johnson (R), Rod Blagojevich (D), Jerry Costello (D), Danny Davis (D), Henry Hyde (R), Mark Kirk (R), Ray LaHood (R), William Lipinski (D), Donald Manzullo (R), David Phelps (D), Bobby Rush (D), John Shimkus (R) and Jerry Weller (R). Signing the Iowa letter: Tom Latham (R), Jim Nussle (R), Greg Ganske (R) and Jim Leach (R). Signing the Missouri letter: Reps. Kenny Hulshof (R), Jo Ann Emerson (R), Sam Graves (R), Ike Skelton (D), Todd Akin (R), and William Clay (D).