On June 25, the Senate approved the House-passed “minibus” appropriations bill (H.R. 5895) by a vote of 86-5. The minibus includes funding for Energy and Water, the Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2019. These three bills are the first of the 12 annual appropriations bills Congress needs to pass before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
The bill provides a total of $10.3 billion for military construction projects. This is an increase of $241 million, or 2.4 percent, above the enacted fiscal year 2018 level. The Department of Veterans Affairs major construction account is funded at $1.12 billion, and its minor construction account is funded at $706.9 million.
The Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program is funded at $6.927 billion, an increase above the fiscal year 2018-enacted level of $6.8 billion. Roughly $1.52 billion in funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and full use of estimated annual revenues from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund is required. The Corps construction account received $2.16 billion. Its Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account received a record-level of $3.74 billion.
AGC applauds the passage of these appropriation bills and looks forward to working with Congress towards a final funding bill. Passing appropriations bills in a timely fashion helps provide federal agencies and, in turn, federal construction contractors, with financial and operational certainty that helps them with planning the execution of infrastructure projects.
For more information, contact Jordan Howard at Jordan.Howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.