{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-praises-alaska-provisions-in-water-resource-development-act", "Murkowski Praises Alaska Provisions in Water Resource Development Act", "2024-12-20", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=10", "scraper", "Washington, DC \u2013 This week, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) supported S.4367, the Thomas R. Carper Water Resource Development of 2024, which overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Senate in a bipartisan vote of 97-1. The legislation authorizes projects to construct and improve new ports, harbors, and waterways across the country, while also installing a series of policy changes at the Army Corps of Engineers aimed at accelerating the agency\u2019s work and expanding tribal partnerships. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the conference bill last week, and the legislation will now go the President\u2019s desk for his signature.\n\n\u201cCommunities across Alaska are facing increasingly intense flooding and erosion that must be addressed with urgency,\u201d said Senator Murkowski. \u201cThe delegation\u2019s tireless advocacy made it possible for us to secure a number of critical victories that will make our communities increasingly resilient, and ensure that federal money is put into the right hands to orchestrate strategic projects across the state.\u201d\n\nThe Alaska Delegation worked to incorporate several Alaska-specific provisions that were included in the final version of the Water Resource Development Act (WRDA), which include:\n\nIncreases the Denali Commission\u2019s authorization of federal funds from $15 to $35 million and authorizes the establishment of a new Denali Commission Housing Fund to address housing shortages in rural Alaska.\n\nExtends the Lowell Creek operations and maintenance cost for another five years at 100% federal cost share, while the Corps continues to work on a new project to augment the existing flood diversion system in Seward. The project would also protect the tunnel inlet from landslides.\n\nAuthorizes Akutan\u2019s Akun Harbor project under the Corps\u2019 Tribal Partnership Program. The project would construct an access harbor on Akun, protected by a 400-foot-long rubble mound breakwater to facilitate access to the airport.\n\nClarifies the North Slope Borough\u2019s National Flood Insurance Program enrollment to ensure that the Barrow Coastal Erosion project can proceed in a timely fashion.\n\nAmends the storm damage prevention and reduction, coastal erosion, and ice and glacial damage provisions from WRDA 2022 to include \u201criverine erosion\u201d for Alaskan projects. Currently, this allows the Barrow Coastal Erosion Project, Port of Nome Project, and the Kenai Bluffs Project to qualify for 90/10 federal/local cost shares instead of the historical 65/35 split.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-praises-alaska-provisions-in-water-resource-development-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8103458676487207, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}