ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) and its affiliated state organizations had hoped a panel of appointed House and Senate conferees would have met to iron out differences in their versions of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) by the time the current legislative session ended.

However, the current session ended before the conferees were able to meet in order to draft a final, compromised version of the bill to send to President Bush for his signature. As a result, proponents of the bill will have to wait until at least Nov. 13, when Congress resumes, for the conference report to be forwarded to Bush.

“This bill is six years overdue, and corn growers have been working on modernization of locks and dams on the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers more than 15 years,” said NCGA President Gerald Tumbleson on Friday. “NCGA believes the conferees have made very good progress, but there are still a few remaining open issues. The finish line is in sight, and corn growers are committed to getting WRDA passed before the 109th Congress adjourns at the end of the year.”

WRDA is priority legislation for NCGA and its state affiliates, along with the American Soybean Assoc. and its state affiliates, MARC 2000, and many other organizations and businesses whose livelihoods depend on reliable and expedient river commerce. Along with funds to provide for the upgrading of the locks to 1,200-feet in length from 600 feet, the bill allows for mechanical upgrades and improvements to the locks and will establish one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in U.S. history. The House approved the bill in 2005; the Senate finally passed their version of WRDA this summer.

Conferees were recently named to a panel of House and Senate members charged with ironing out the differences in the two versions of the bill before passing it to the president. Bush has indicated he would sign the final version of the bill.

“We are very pleased the House and Senate have named their conferees, as the process of concluding legislation to upgrade our locks and dams and inland waterways is closer than ever before,” Tumbleson said on Sept. 20. “Our growers have done a tremendous amount of legwork in making sure their congressmen hear NCGA’s call for this important piece of legislation.”

NCGA and its grassroots members will continue its efforts in October and November to push awareness for the bill onto the House and Senate’s front burners, Tumbleson said. He is encouraging WRDA proponents to contact their legislators and ask that WRDA be given top priority once Congress resumes.

The House conferees are: Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Edward Young (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member James Oberstar (D-Minn.); Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas); Reps. Richard Baker (R-La.), Gary G. Miller (R- Calif.), Henry Brown (R-S.C.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), Timothy H. Bishop (D-N.Y.), Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), and Ron Kind (D-Wis.).

The Senate conferees are: Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who will chair the conference, Kit Bond (R-Mo.), John Warner (R-Va.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), David Vitter (R-La.), Jim Jeffords (D-Vt.), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Tim Carper (D-Del.).

This farm news was published in the Oct. 4, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.