Welcome to our new WaterLog subscribers. This is an update of the scene here in DC – and it’s not pretty.
We’re headed toward another shutdown deadline by Thursday midnight. The House Republican leadership will propose another short-term solution that won’t make it past Start in the Senate. There’s some hope the Senate will come up with a combo of a longer-term short-term solution. You can read about the details of who is accusing whom of what elsewhere. What I want to know is: When will Congress finally pass disaster aid funds that should have been approved in December? Also, when will this Governing-of-the-Month approach stop? If Congress extends temporary funding to March 23 (as is being discussed), then at best half of fiscal year 2018 will be gone! And, we will probably get a proposed budget for FY19 from the President next week, which on my calendar is more than a month before Congress has passed a budget for FY18.
The Corps has issued a Policy Memorandum with this title: Interim Changes for Immediate Implementation and Future Policy Revisions. Do you think they saw the beauty of this? In any event, it’s about Section 408 permits, which are important to a number of folks. If you would like a copy of the 6-page memo, please email me and I will send it.
Rubbing in the shortage of congressional disaster funding, the Congressional Research Service has issued this report that focuses on the donut and not the hole.
Finally, if you’re thinking of where to move next, here’s a report on the nation’s “best performing cities”. It’s not specific to water resources, but I was looking for something to divert your attention from the news.
And even more finally, check out our list of Federal legislation that affects coastal communities. Some interesting bills on flood insurance and speed-up of the regulatory process that have been introduced recently. You can find it on the Taking Action: Your Guide to Congress tab of this page of the WaterLog website.
