Continued EPA Fight

The Senate's take no prisoners fight over the EPA Waters of the U.S. rule has torpedoed - for now - funding for the recently enacted water projects bill. The Water Resources Reform and Development Act President Obama signed this month could be described as a boat without a sail - lots of projects and no money. The money is in a spending bill sidelined in committee amid a partisan Senate fight over the EPA's Waters of the U.S. rule to vastly expand EPA waters jurisdiction. Waterways Council's Debra Colbert. 

COLBERT: In the Senate they did mark up that bill due to controversial amendments that would be offered related to the Clean Water Act and the EPA's rule so we're still waiting to see what happens in the Senate and we don't yet know what the House project allocations will be.

But without money - WRRDA is worthless. Lawmakers put the word reform in the title to show WRRDA prioritizes projects and streamlines funding - but there is no funding right now. Colbert says Congress has kicked the infrastructure can for the inland waters down the road for far too long. But the can may have just gotten run over by a bitter election-year feud.

COLBERT: The Senate Appropriations Chairman, Barbara Mikulski was very strong about wanting to get all of her 12 or 13 appropriations done by the end of the year in regular order . The same went for Hal Rogers, House Appropriations Chairman so this could very well upset the apple cart in the Senate.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.