Daily Jolt: Why today could be a watershed moment for… | Political Insider | www.ajc.com

The dredging of Savannah’s port has for years been the top priority for Georgia’s political class. And today the $652 million effort to deepen the harbor could take a mighty step forward. House Republican leaders plan to unveil their version of a bill to allow new federal waterways funding, the latest attempt to reach an agreement over sweeping water proposals for the first time in six years.

The Water Resources and Development Act cleared the Senate in May and Georgia lawmakers want the version emerging from the House to eliminate the ominous-sounding Section 902, a spending cap dating from 1999 that limits the project’s expense. You can look it at like a dam that holds Georgia back from even using the more than $200 million it has set aside to start the deepening.

There’s hopeful talk. Georgia Ports Chief Curtis Foltz told us he’s “confident but not over-confident” that a Georgia-friendly bill will emerge.

Yet the delegation is wary of the fact that six lawmakers from Florida sit on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — and no one on the committee is from Georgia.

With only a trickle of federal funding set aside for the project, and so much on the line, expect Georgia politicians to be on their best behavior when Vice President Joe Biden visits Savannah’s port next week.

via Daily Jolt: Why today could be a watershed moment for… | Political Insider | www.ajc.com.