Corps slated to get $138M in budget funds

Published 11:57 pm Friday, February 17, 2012

Nearly $138 million of President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2013 is slated to go to the Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spokesman Kavanaugh Breazeale announced Friday evening.

Projects listed for spending include Mississippi River levee construction and channel improvements as well as maintenance of lakes and backwater areas managed by the District.

“This budget represents a continued commitment of federal resources consistent with administration policy using objective, performance-based guidelines to select the highest performing projects for funding,” Col. Jeffrey R. Eckstein, commander of the Vicksburg District, said.

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Eckstein stressed that with the levels budgeted, the District would “continue to provide the greatest value to the nation possible,” but added that reduced levels of service should be expected in certain areas, such as recreation sites and lock operations.

It was not known how the proposed figures compare with federal dollars allotted to the District in fiscal 2012.

The Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana that holds seven major river basins and incorporates about 460 miles of mainline levees.

Obama’s proposed budget includes $4.731 billion in gross discretionary funding for the civil works program of the Corps of Engineers.

“The fiscal 2013 civil works budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reflects the administration’s priorities through targeted investments in the nation’s infrastructure that fund the development, management, restoration and protection of the nation’s water, wetlands and related resources,” said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “The budget also reflects the tough choices necessary to put the country on a fiscally sustainable path.”

Obama’s total $3.8 trillion budget was unveiled Monday.

The proposed budget must pass both houses of Congress before it is presented to the president for signature into law.