[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 122 (Tuesday, July 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4850-S4851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Infrastructure

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, every State of the Nation has many 
infrastructure needs. In Iowa, we rely on our roads, bridges, air, and 
freight to move our goods and people throughout Iowa, throughout the 
United States, and eventually throughout the world. I am encouraged 
that a bipartisan framework has been agreed to for moving forward on an 
infrastructure bill. I will be interested in seeing more details about 
the policy and the way to pay for the bill as the bill proceeds 
forward.
  Today, I would like to discuss one aspect of infrastructure, and that 
is our inland waterways. For Iowa, that is the Mississippi and the 
Missouri Rivers. For other States, it is a lot of other important 
rivers.
  I ask my colleagues to take this important mode of transportation 
into account as they work on legislation. I have also sent this request 
in a letter to both the Senate Environment and Public Works as well as 
the Appropriations Committees.
  The inland and intercostal waterways and our ports are vital to the 
United States and serve 41 States throughout our Nation. Shippers and 
consumers depend on the ability to move around 630 million tons of 
cargo each year, valued at about $232 billion on these waterways. In 
turn, the inland waterways system supports well over half a million 
jobs.
  Now, I am going to go into some of the information that is on the 
chart here.
  Our Nation's inland waterways system also provides a safe, cost-
effective, fuel-efficient, and environmentally friendly way to move our 
bulk products. This translates into more than $12 billion annually in 
transportation savings to the American economy.
  Furthermore--and when I say ``furthermore,'' this point is important 
for the environment--1 gallon of fuel oil allows 1 ton of cargo to be 
shipped 647 miles by barge as compared to 477 miles by rail and only 
145 miles by truck.
  In addition, the inland waterway transport generates far fewer 
emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide than rail 
or truck per million tons of miles does.
  As for safety, there are 21--let's say 22 rail fatalities compared to 
79 truck fatalities for every 1 fatality on the waterways system that I 
am addressing.
  By moving goods on inland waterways, we are helping to relieve 
congestion on the roadways and adding to the Nation's economic 
prosperity. Moving goods on inland waterways is the most efficient 
transportation mode. A typical inland barge has a capacity 15 times 
greater than 1 railcar and 60 times greater than 1 semi-trailer truck. 
One 15-barge tow can move the equivalent of 216 railcars pulled by 6 
locomotives or 1,050 semi-trailer trucks, just as a comparison of the 
efficiency of this mode of transportation. If the cargo transported on 
the inland waterways each year had to be moved by another mode, it 
would take an additional 16 percent more tonnage on the railroad system 
and 49 million truck trips annually to carry the same load.
  U.S. trade policy and its effects on exports, and in particular 
agricultural exports, have a major impact on the U.S. water 
transportation system.
  The United States is the world's largest agricultural exporting 
country. U.S. agriculture exports in 2018--the last year we have 
figures for--generated more than $300 billion in economic output and 
directly supported more than 1 million jobs.
  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about one out of 
every three acres farmed in our country are planted for export. 
Agricultural exports account for about a quarter of farm cash receipts, 
in which 73 percent of these exports and 65 percent of imports were 
carried on U.S. waterways. American farmers need foreign markets to 
sell commodities and value-added agricultural products.
  Compared to the overall economy, U.S. agriculture is twice as reliant 
on overseas markets. Consumers in developing countries around the world 
choose different foods to eat as their incomes rise. As a result, then, 
there are emerging opportunities for exporting more meat, dairy 
products, and farm commodities. U.S. exporters need to be able to take 
advantage of those opportunities with only 96 percent of the world's 
consumers living outside the United States. Obviously, for the 4 
percent of the people who live in the United States, if you want to 
market, you are going to spend a lot of time marketing to that 96 
percent who live outside our country.
  As the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, the 
United States delivers high-quality, reliable products to consumers 
around the globe. Now, here at home, these exports are essential to 
profitability in

[[Page S4851]]

agriculture, and the economic activity they generate obviously ripples 
through the domestic economy.
  We need to make sure that our current inland waterway infrastructure 
is maintained in good condition. Congress has implemented policy 
changes that provide more funding for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund 
and adjusted cost shares of the trust fund to more efficiently fund and 
complete the construction projects. I ask for robust funding to support 
the use of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund for construction. This is 
necessary to ensure that the inland waterways modernization, 
replacement, and rehabilitation construction projects are funded at the 
level supportable by the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.

  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program currently faces 
a large unmet need in its operations and maintenance account. I have 
been encouraged that in the last several years, Congress has provided 
additional funding to help address these backlogs. I request as much 
funding as possible be provided for these operation and maintenance 
activities.
  The investigations account is also crucial for the inland waterways 
system. There are currently 15 modernization projects that are waiting 
to begin construction. It is critically important to complete design of 
these projects so they can begin construction when the Inland Waterways 
Trust Fund dollars become available. Failure to have design completed 
will delay project delivery, ultimately leading to increased total cost 
of the projects, as well as adding additional time to schedule project 
completion. I ask that the investigations account be funded at a level 
to support these projects, given current budgetary constraints.
  On the Upper Mississippi River, multiple locks are well beyond their 
50-year design life and cannot accommodate more tows, as we have to 
have the barges break up their tows to get them through smaller locks. 
So having to decouple the barges significantly slows down traffic on 
the river and increases costs and emissions harmful, then, to the 
environment.
  I worked with my Upper Mississippi River colleagues here in the 
Senate and a large, broad stakeholder coalition to get initial 
authorization for this lock and dam modernization, the Navigation and 
Ecosystem Restoration Program, signed into law. We have also continued 
to work on receiving preconstruction engineering design and funding 
that is provided for in the Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration 
Program. It is important for that program to receive new start funding 
so construction on these improvements can start taking place.
  Lock and Dam 25, which is a key feature of the navigation and 
ecosystem program, has received a significant portion of the $72.5 
million appropriated for the navigation and ecosystem program thus far 
and is ready to move to construction. That program is a key priority 
for me and my colleagues, the State of Iowa, the region, and everybody 
up and down the Mississippi River, and, eventually, the world benefits 
from that increased efficiency.
  We need all modes of transportation to help deliver our inputs, our 
goods, and commodities both domestically and internationally. I want to 
see robust navigation on the Mississippi River and other inland 
waterways flourish.
  I look forward to continuing to work with my congressional colleagues 
and the administration on these important issues as appropriations and 
infrastructure legislation is prepared and discussed.
  I have one other short comment I would like to make on another 
subject. It will take me about 2 or 3 minutes.