Efforts by U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) to secure federal funds to complete a Michigan infrastructure project appear to be close at hand.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved funding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for fiscal year (FY) 2020, which includes monies for construction of a new lock at the Soo Locks, a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the Corps’ Detroit District that allows ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. The committee also released an accompanying report that includes $75.3 million in the federal government’s FY 2020 budget for the project.
“I have worked across the aisle in Congress to move this funding forward and I am glad the Senate Appropriations Committee has followed the work my House colleagues and I did in May,” Rep. Moolenaar said, referring to approval in May by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for the exact same amount of funding for Soo Locks construction.
“With the House and Senate now in agreement, there is clear bipartisan support for getting this done and we have seen historic progress in the last year and a half after President Trump pledged his support,” said Rep. Moolenaar. “This is a major infrastructure project that is crucial to manufacturing across the nation and I will continue working in Congress to get this funding across the finish line.”
According to the congressman’s office, this would be the first time in decades that construction of a new lock at the Soo Locks has received funding appropriated by Congress. Construction of a new lock was first authorized in 1986 and again in 2007, but lawmakers were unable to nail down the construction funding.