President Biden’s budget request for the Civil Works portion of the Army Corps of Engineers undersells the amount of future spending on U.S. waterways, ports, and flood control projects.  

At $6.601 billion, the request is a nearly 3% reduction compared to the Fiscal Year 2022 presidential budget request. More importantly, it would be a nearly 21% reduction from the $8.3 billion Congress just appropriated for Civil Works projects in the 2022 Omnibus. This reduction will not happen. 

There is a well-established budgeting ritual involving this agency that is in charge of constructing projects promoting commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, as well as environmental restoration on most of our nation’s major, and not-so-major, waterways. The White House lowballs funding levels enabling the administration to budget that cash for other priorities. Congress makes a theatric show of disapproval. When it comes time to actually produce the spending bills, Congress bumps the spending up and the president signs the bill. Glad handing and back slapping ensue. It’s a well-worn ritual undertaken by nearly every administration. 

Through Fiscal Year 2020 the gulf between what the administration (both Obama and Trump) requested and Congress ultimately approved grew exponentially. In the FY2020 Omnibus, Congress appropriated nearly $3 billion (58.5%) more than the president had requested. This dropped to, umm, “only” a $1.8 billion (30%) difference in the final year of the Trump presidency.  

The Biden Administration appears to be continuing this ritual.  In the end, with a Congress that always spends more than the president requests, inflation driving up costs, and a continued push for increased infrastructure spending, you can bet this trend continues.