Viewpoint
By Don Copenhaver, President

Benefits of Water Resources Act justified Congress's override of presidential veto

Give U.S. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri credit for perseverance in his long struggle to secure funding for updating locks and dams on the Mississippi River. Give him credit too for a great summation of Washington’s grasp of issues: “It never ceases to amaze me how the bean counters in Washington fail to understand where the beans they are counting originate from.” Senator Bond’s frustration arose from his attempts at steering the federal Water Resources Development Act.
The Act involves legislation to improve the nation’s navigation, flood control and ecosystem modernization projects. Included are projects for drinking water, electric power production, river transportation, recreation, flood protection, environmental protection and emergency response. In essence, WRDA ensures U.S. agriculture updates to an aging water-borne transportation system.
Despite the nation’s broad spectrum of water needs, Congress had not passed a WRDA bill since 2000. Still, this summer and fall, both houses of Congress passed the legislation, in large part due to the efforts of Senator Bond. President Bush vetoed it in early November.
Agriculture needed this legislation, without doubt. Our current system is nearly 70 years old. Traffic on the upper Mississippi River over the past 35 years has grown from 27 million tons to 84 million tons. The system carries 60 percent of the nation’s corn exports and 45 percent of the nation’s soybean exports. It does so at two-thirds the cost of rail—when rail is available. In Missouri alone, 34.7 million tons of commodities with a combined value of more than $4 billion are shipped through the river system.
Specifically, WRDA authorizes an upgrade of the lock and dam system on the Mississippi to the tune of $1.95 billion. That expenditure would buy seven new 1,200-foot locks to replace the Roosevelt-era locks that have functioned for more than half a century. As MFA’s distribution people point out, a portion of the cost comes from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Much of that money comes from the barge and towing industry through fuel taxes. At the bequest of environmentalists, another $1.72 billion was earmarked for environmental restoration along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
With fuel prices skyrocketing, what better wake-up call than to improve efficiency? One medium-sized tow on the river can carry the same weight as 870 trucks with their requisite highway wear and tear. Consider that highway traffic is projected to grow from 11 billion tons to 19 billion tons and rail traffic from 2 billion to 3.7 billion tons in the near future. Increased use of waterways is environmentally sound and fiscally smart. Barge traffic makes sense.
Still, you won’t catch me making excuses for a political process that allows unrestricted attachments. That’s how Washington spending gets out of control. Originally, the Senate approved $14 billion for the Act; the House approved $15 billion. Somehow, when compromise ended, the price tag stood at $23 billion. Pork, pure and simple, and evidence of a process lacking fiscal discipline.
In vetoing the Act, President Bush criticized it as “unsound” legislation that taxpayers cannot afford. Still, those of us in Midwest agriculture have been pushing 10 years for updates. We know its critical importance to Midwestern agriculture. Fortunately, so does Senator Bond. All of Midwest agriculture should be grateful for his efforts. As chairman of the Environment and Public Work’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee in 2006, Bond was a key author of the initial bill. And since at least 2002, Bond fought to bring the issue to the Senate’s attention.
Bond has continued to emphasize that modernization projects covered by WRDA “give our farmers and producers a critical edge in the international marketplace.” At stake are 1,000 miles of Missouri and Mississippi River shoreline and inland ports that serve as the Midwest’s arteries to world markets. “Without a competitive transportation system,” said Bond, “the promise of expanded trade for our farmers and commercial growth is empty, job opportunities are lost, and we will be unprepared for the global challenges of this new century.”
President Bush rightly complained the bill lacks fiscal discipline and fails to set priorities. He pointed out the billions of dollars added to the bill during its progression through Congress. I understand that criticism and cannot defend the pet projects that get added surreptitiously from coast to coast. But I also know that locks and dams in no way constitute pet projects.
The core of this legislation is necessary maintenance, responsible investment and overdue capital improvement. Fundamental infrastructure updates have been overlooked for decades. If not now, when? If we really and truly want to be serious about making U.S. farm products competitive worldwide, we cannot continue to overlook and underfund the infrastructure that carries our products to market.
To grow and prosper your business, you must invest in your infrastructure. Agriculture’s immediate unification supporting override of the veto reflected that knowledge. In fact, all of agriculture called for an override of the veto. Count MFA front and center.

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