The House passed the $29.75 billion fiscal year 2006 Energy and Water appropriations bill yesterday with a vote of 416-13. One provision in the bill may mean that future Army Corps of Engineers projects will proceed at a slower pace by limiting the agency’s spending flexibility by exerting tighter control over how the corps transfers money from one project to another and allocates federal dollars for multi-year contracts..

Under current practice for example, the corps may issue a $300 million contract with congressional appropriations of $50 million a year until the project is done. A contractor could proceed with the project that year and use its own money once the $50 million had been spent, with the expectation of being reimbursed. The corps has traditionally done this by shifting money from one project to another. The language approved yesterday could prevent work from progressing once a project passes that $50 million mark, stalling projects and resulting in unnecessary and costly project starts and stops, according to critics.

In addition, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Hobson (R-Ohio) and ranking member Pete Visclosky (D-Indiana) inserted a measure into the bill that would restrict the corp's ability to divert money from one project to another.