Competing Senate and House appropriations measures
funding civil construction by the Army Corps of Engineers, and environmental
cleanup of sites contaminated by the Department of Defense are stalling fiscal
2013 budgeting for yet another federal agency’s construction planning. The
Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed 1% increases in both Corps of
Engineers civil construction and DOE defense site cleanup programs, while the
House version seeks cuts of 4% in Corps civil construction funding and 2% in
environmental cleanup spending.
Additional gridlock factors include the absence
from the House bill of the Senate committee’s pilot program for consent based
process of siting a new locale for interim spent reactor fuel rod disposal.
House committee amendments have added two provisions left out of the Senate
version – a measure to block DOE from requiring renovated federal buildings to
reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and a provision precluding further guidance
on the definition of federally regulated waters for pollution control purposes.
Once again, it seems the desire to create political
party election campaign talking points is taking precedence over the need to
fund government programs important to national economic recovery in general,
and the resurgence of the construction industry in particular.
