Fiscal Year 2017 Work Plan

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Sound the alarmToday’s post features commentary from guest author Julie Minerva.

I must admit, my right hand is numb from hitting the refresh button on my computer since about 11 am EST on Tuesday. That’s because this week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) was expected to release the Fiscal Year 2017 work plan. That finally happened around 6 pm EST on Wednesday (see previous blog post) and I’ve been combing through its pages ever since. The work plan is a companion document to the annual Energy & Water Appropriations bill and in the absence of earmarks, it’s how projects that didn’t make the cut for inclusion in the President’s budget get funded and also how new studies and new construction projects win coveted new start designations.

Dollar Signs

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.

Washington DCOn Friday May 5 President Trump signed the budget deal that allows the Federal government to move from its one week continuing resolution to an adopted budget for the 2017 Fiscal Year.  The budget deal includes a healthy set of appropriations for flood risk reduction and puts the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on a path toward moving more projects ahead this year.  But the late passage of the budget (after 7 months of the 12 month fiscal year), will hamstring certain USACE actions.