Annual Increase of Islands' Waiver

Statement

The Marianas waiver of cost-share for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects will keep pace with inflation under a provision in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 approved by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The waiver was set in 1986 at $200,000, but I was able to increase that to $455,000 in WRDA 2014, arguing the waiver needed to account for inflation. And the inflation adjustment was renewed in WRDA 2018. Now, WRDA 2020 would mandate an annual adjustment, so the Marianas, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands would get a bigger waiver of the local cost-share every year. WRDA authorizes the Army Corps to carry out water resources development projects and studies, as well as reforms and policy direction for the Corps' civil works missions including navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, shoreline protection, and ecosystem restoration.

Source