After seven years, the Water Resources Development Act may be on its way to passing out of Congress and into law. The bill, which provides funding for water projects including navigational upgrades for rivers with barge traffic, came out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday. The House version of the bill came out of committee on March 15 and is expected to be discussed on the floor after Easter recess. No date for Senate floor action has been made public. A version of the bill ran out of time in the last Congress, despite bipartisan support. This version includes spending very similar to last year's bill, with money going towards construction and repair of locks, small-scale navigation upgrades including improvements to the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River System, and environmental restoration. "Corn growers are very encouraged by the swift action by both the Senate and the House committees," says Ken McCauley, National Corn Growers Association president. "With this movement we believe this will be the year we have a bill passed that will authorize the reinvestment into modernization of the very outdated locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers."
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