The Senate passed a version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) (S. 2848) by a vote of 95-3. WRDA authorizes projects and activities related to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The legislation includes funding for Lake Tahoe Restoration projects, authorizes help for the Salton Sea as well as some funding for Sacramento-area flood control projects among others in California.
While the $10.6 billion Senate-passed bill contains $220 million in direct funding to help Flint, Michigan, the WRDA bill pending in the House does not contain funding for Flint. This is expected to be an issue once the two bills go to conference. Finally, passage of the Senate WRDA bill places additional pressure on the House to find a way to get the House WRDA bill (H.R. 5303) to be considered on the floor before Congress goes into recess until after the November elections. Recent conversations convey a general sense of cautious optimism that WRDA will, in fact, be taken up and approved.