[20200910]IF11645_港口维护信托基金支出分配.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov September 10, 2020Distribution of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund ExpendituresAs Congress deliberates on authorization legislation for Army Corps of Engineers water resource projects (House-passed H.R. 7575, Senate-reported S. 3591), it is considering how to direct the use of funding available for harbor maintenance. Harbor maintenance consists mostly of the dredging of navigation channels and harbors along the coasts and Great Lakes, and to a lesser extent at inland ports. The policy choices offered by these bills will have consequences for navigation efficiency and safety, recreation uses, and the levels of state and private investment in port infrastructure. They may also affect competition among U.S. ports to capture import and export cargo and the associated logistics-industry jobs. At the center of these policy decisions is the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), created by Congress in 1986 and funded primarily by receipts from a tax on importers of waterborne cargo (assessed at a rate of $1.25 per $1,000 worth of cargo). In FY2019, harbor maintenance tax collections totaled $1.6 billion, investment earnings totaled $214 million, and expenditur