Senators expect clear path for water bill - Politico

Congress last passed a water bill in 2007. | AP Photo

Rank-and-file senators working on a sweeping new water bill have a message for Harry Reid: We're available.

The Senate majority leader has been reaching out to his committee chairmen in search of legislation he could quickly move to the floor after the chamber wraps up more pressing fiscal matters and returns from its two-week Easter recess on April 8.

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And both Democrats and Republicans on the Environment and Public Works Committee are signaling that their bipartisan water bill — expected to clear the panel Wednesday — will be ready to go.

"We're available," Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the committee's water panel, told POLITICO. "This is gonna have strong bipartisan support, and I think there will be a commitment to keep it together. It's one of those that I think is eligible for the floor."

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he, too, hopes the upper chamber will take up the water resources infrastructure bill soon, while Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) said panel members have been talking up the legislation to leadership.

In an interview Tuesday, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois acknowledged that Reid and committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) have been discussing bringing the bill before the full Senate sometime in the spring.

"[Reid] supports it, and I do too," said Durbin, who has made Mississippi River commerce a key focus of late. Boxer told POLITICO it was her understanding that Reid was trying to make floor time for the bill sometime in April after the Senate takes up gun legislation.

Later in the day, Reid told Senate Democrats at lunch that he plans to move to the water bill in April or May, Boxer said.

The committee is expected to easily pass the Water Resources Development Act out of a Wednesday markup after the liberal Boxer and conservative ranking member David Vitter (R-La.) rolled out the 284-page bill Monday. That means Senate leadership will return next month to a water bill largely free of controversy, perhaps a relief after the upper chamber deals with guns.

"This seems to be an obvious candidate with the markup expected to go smoothly," said one Senate aide who's been tracking the water bill. "Reid is considering WRDA among a handful of other things. And when we come back [into session], he'll be looking for items to put on the floor."

Reid could also turn to executive branch nominees still working their way through the confirmation process, including President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Interior and Energy departments and the Environmental Protection Agency.

But one factor favoring quick floor action on the water bill is that it's been in the works since the last Congress. Boxer floated a draft in late 2012 to get the conversation going among senators, and she has since added language intended to attract a diverse group of supporters.

One example: The draft includes an effort to make sure that money coming into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund gets spent every year rather than being stacked onto a surplus that has reached nearly $7 billion and an attempt to prioritize investment on deepwater ports. That last provision appeals to coastal senators from the East, West and Gulf coasts — but it also includes a set-aside for small ports so as not to overly concentrate on megaports like those in California and Louisiana, the home states of the committee leaders.

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