The Army Corps of Engineers needs at least $46 billion to complete its backlog of construction projects, but that hasn't stopped Congress from continuing to fund new projects, witnesses said at a hearing Tuesday.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, presided over the hearing, which served as background for a bill known as the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 that the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is considering. The bill funds water conservation and development projects throughout the country.
According to Voinovich, budget requests for the Army Corps are far short of the agency's needs. "It would take 25 years for the Corps to complete its active backlog, and that's without even considering new authorizations," he said. Congress would need to double construction appropriations for the Army Corps just to get a handle on the backlog, Voinovich added. "We need another $1 billion, at least, to respond to the needs that we have."
The total construction backlog for all the uncompleted parts of Army Corps projects is valued at $71 billion. However, $23.5 billion has already been allocated for such projects and another $1.5 billion is included in the President's fiscal 2001 budget, leaving the $46 billion backlog. About $8 billion of the backlog is for projects that are no longer considered viable and are unlikely to be completed.
"The size of the construction backlog, coupled with the known projects awaiting authorization, imposes a burden on the federal budget that today's budgetary realities cannot satisfy. Sufficient funding is simply not available to implement all of these projects in a timely way," said Claudia L. Tornblom, a representative from the Army Corps' Office of Civil Works.
The debate about Corps funding comes at a time when the agency is under fire for alleged mismanagement. In March, the Clinton administration moved to reassert civilian control over Army Corps operations. But that effort was quickly withdrawn under congressional pressure.
Now, two congressmen have added a rider to a farm budget bill that would stop any future administration efforts to change the way the agency is run.
At Tuesday's hearing, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., urged his colleagues to oppose the rider, saying "I hope we all can work together to remove [it] from the final bill."
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