Water Resources Development Act Of 2013 - Will The "No Earmarks" Approach Hold?

On May 15th, the Senate gave final approval, by a vote of 83-14, to S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act of 2013. As we indicated previously, any legislation authorizing additional funds for water infrastructure projects is remarkable in these times of sequestration. In this case, credit the difference, in large part, to two factors: (1) the Senate-passed WRDA bill does not include any earmarking but instead authorizes all "ready-to-go" water development projects, i.e. those with both a completed Report from the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers and a referral to Congress by the Corps (Section 1002); and (2) the Harbor Maintenance Trust fund, which funds all water projects, has a healthy surplus of almost $7 billion.