Good day!  As many of you know, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had scheduled a press conference for Tuesday, May 23 to go over the President’s proposed USACE budget for FY18. The rumor had been that the FY17 Work Plan would be released at the same time. This would have been a pretty monumental accomplishment for USACE and the Assistant Secretary of the Army, especially since Congress did not mandate a workplace until mid-June. But, there is a certain logic to releasing both on the same day as the FY18 Budget should flow from the policy decisions made in the FY17 Work Plan.

Alas, the news came out today that the press conference is being delayed (See email below). Such a delay shouldn’t be a surprise. The work plan and budget are complex, detail-oriented documents requiring agreement on policy and priorities. These are difficult documents to issue at any time, let alone so soon after passage of the FY17 omnibus and so early in an Administration with so many new players. Stay tuned for updates on the actual release.

—–Original Message—–
From: Pawlik, Eugene A Jr CIV USARMY CEHQ (US)
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2017 3:00 PM
Subject: Cancelled – Fiscal 2018 Civil Works Budget press conference

All, the fiscal 2018 Civil Works Budget press conference previously scheduled to take place tomorrow, Tuesday, 23 May, has been cancelled. Budget details are still being worked at this time.

We will advise you once the budget press book and any other materials are available on line or can be emailed to you.

For those of you who have been a part of this process for a while, you may recall the same thing happened in May 2009 for the rollout of the FY 2010 Budget.

Gene Pawlik
USACE Public Affairs Office