Congressmen say bill would speed waterways projects
EAST ALTON — A pair of Congressmen from central and southwestern Illinois say a U.S. House bill they helped pass would speed up urgent repairs on locks, dams and levees and other projects on the state’s waterways.
Taylorville Republican Rodney Davis and Bill Enyart, a Democrat from Belleville, visited East Alton on the Mississippi River north of St. Louis Thursday to talk about the bill, which cleared the House on Wednesday.
The (Belleville) News-Democrat quotes Enyart as saying, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have the authority to move on critical investments and ease the backlog on crucial projects.”
The Water Resources Reform and Development Act still has to pass the U.S. Senate, but Enyart predicted it would.
The bill would allow the use of public-private partnerships in waterway infrastructure projects.