U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) was successful in her work to secure funds to complete a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, flood mitigation project to help make the city safer and more economically viable with the recent announcement that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded $117 million in federal funding to the project.
“In addition to efforts by the city and state governments, for years I have pushed the Corps to review its flawed benefit-cost ratio metrics, which disadvantage projects in rural states, and find a way to fund projects like this,” Sen. Ernst said. “I am proud to see our combined efforts pay off today — this funding will not only protect the city, but also give businesses the certainty they need to confidently invest in the Cedar Rapids community.”
According to a July 5 statement from the senator’s office, the Corps’ funding comes more than a decade after record-breaking flooding in the city caused about $5.4 billion in damages. Since that disaster, city officials have “worked tirelessly to develop and advance this project, which will protect its residents and businesses from future flooding events,” said Sen. Ernst.
“Hundreds of millions of state and local dollars have already been committed, but what has been missing is this critical federal share of the project,” she added.
The funds are part of the additional work that the Army Corps of Engineers plans to accomplish with the almost $17.4 billion in total federal funding it received for disaster recovery under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which was signed into law by the president on Feb. 9. The Corps said in a July 5 statement that it will use construction account funds to complete 60 flood and storm damage reduction projects in 16 states and one territory.
Sen. Ernst’s most-recent efforts to secure the project funds for Cedar Rapids culminated on May 22 when the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which she serves, passed out of committee the bipartisan America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, S. 2800.
S. 2800, introduced on May 8 by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), includes a provision by Sen. Ernst that addresses the Corps’ benefit-cost ratio (BCR) metrics, which she said disadvantage projects in states with low property values when they compete against projects in major cities or coastal areas for federal funding.
Sen. Ernst worked with her Senate Environment and Public Works Committee colleagues to develop a process that would provide small and rural communities improved access to funding for Corps projects. If enacted, the provision under S. 2800 would require the Corps to allocate funding to each Corps district based on stakeholder input, the local and regional significance of projects, and other criteria, according to a summary provided by the senator’s office. Once such funding was allocated at the district level, then only projects within that district could compete for the funds, rendering the BCR guidelines inapplicable.
An additional provision in S. 2800 would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on potential reforms to the current BCR metrics.
Sen. Ernst’s provision in S. 2800 also seeks prioritization of the Cedar Rapids flood control project.
On July 10, Sen. Barrasso filed a written report on S. 2800 from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.