RIVER Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Reinvesting In Vital Economic Rivers and Waterways Act of 2013 or RIVER Act - Directs the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to promulgate regulations that, at a minimum, require certain delivery process criteria for qualifying construction and major rehabilitation projects for navigation infrastructure of inland and intracoastal waterways.
Directs the Secretary, in conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users Board, to submit to Congress a 20-year program for making capital investments on inland and intracoastal waterways. Allows such program to be based on the 20-year capital investment strategy contained in the Inland Marine Transportation System Capital Projects Business Model, Final Report published on April 13, 2010, as approved by the Board.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to limit expenditures from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to 50% of the total cost of the construction or rehabilitation project. Makes Fund amounts unavailable for: (1) construction or rehabilitation of dams, or (2) rehabilitation expenditures that do not equal or exceed $50 million.
Increases the Inland Waterways Trust Fund financing rate (user fee) from 20 cents to 29 cents after 2013.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on February 28, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 28, 2013: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced it on February 28, 2013, and 6 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 4 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 28, 2013, 4942 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4942 days ago, on February 28, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers