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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted to send the White House the FY2024 Energy and Water Development (EWD) Appropriations Bill, which will direct more than $195.9 million to Mississippi in support of specifically-authorized U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects and activities.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee and worked to advance Mississippi interests in the EWD measure, which was approved as part of a six-bill package that now heads to the President.
“Mississippians rely on Army Corps works for flood protection, economic activities, and recreation, which makes the Energy and Water Development bill critical to our state. I believe the final negotiated bill will enable the Corps to improve harbors, ports, levees, and water and wastewater infrastructure in our state,” Hyde-Smith said.
The FY2024 EWD Appropriations Bill funds the Army Corps, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Department of Energy defense and nondefense programs, as well as independent agencies like the Delta Regional Authority and Appalachian Regional Commission.
Among the items of interest to Mississippi in the FY2024 EWD Appropriations Bill:
- $41.7 million for water, wastewater, or stormwater drainage system improvement projects across Mississippi (DeSoto County, Madison County, Rankin County, Meridian, Batesville, Columbus, Gautier, Pearl, and Vardaman).
- $27.7 million for maintenance work at federally-operated flood control reservoirs and lakes in Mississippi (Arkabutla, Enid, Grenada, Sardis, and Okatibbee Lake).
- $22.2 million for dredging at Mississippi’s critical ports and harbors (Rosedale, Greenville, Vicksburg, Gulfport, and Pascagoula).
- $43.7 million to advance major ongoing flood control projects (Delta Headwaters Project, Upper Yazoo Projects, Yazoo Backwater Area Project).
- $55.6 million for operation and maintenance work on the Tennessee-Tombigbee River.
- $27.5 million for research and development, the vast majority of which will take place at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg.
The bill includes language preventing the Army Corps from altering levee owner/operator eligibility for the PL.84-99 program. This language will allow levee owner/operators to focus on the critical levee maintenance, upkeep, and readiness rather than other unnecessary regulatory burdens.
The measure also addresses several energy policy issues including prohibiting selling petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to entities related to the Chinese Communist Party. The final bill also rejects significantly expanded funding for “woke” programs across the Department of Energy, as well as continued unjustified and unsustainable growth in spending on climate change programs.
The FY2024 EWD measure adheres to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which capped discretionary funding and made other reforms to reduce the budget deficit by roughly $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
