The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Federal money for port not being used for wall
Savannah officials: White House said funding will stay.
WASHINGTON — Top officials connected to the Savannah port said Thursday that federal funding for the state’s top economic development project is safe after the White House announced President Donald Trump would declare a national emergency to build a border wall.
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, whose 1st Congressional District is home to the port, said he received assurances from the White House budget office that federal funding for the nearly $1 billion harbor dredging project would not be diverted to help finance the new barriers.
“If President Trump does take action, I have already been working with the relevant departments to ensure the critical projects in the First District receive the resources needed” he said. “The Office of Management and Budget has assured me that the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will not be targeted.”
Jamie McCurry, chief administrative officer for the Georgia Ports Authority, said “at this point, our understanding is that funding will remain in place and the project will proceed on schedule.”
Their comments came shortly after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Trump would take executive actions, including declaring a national emergency, to “stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.”
Declaring a national emergency gives Trump leeway to divert money Congress previously approved for Army civil works projects to pay for a wall or other security ventures he deems necessary. Several Democratic state attorneys general said they would look at legal action to block the move, while some Republicans fear the precedent that the declaration would set.
Eligible money includes military construction projects whose budgets haven’t already been obligated, as well as projects funded under the Army Corps of Engineers’ construction accounts, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Over the past two fiscal years, Congress and the corps have set aside roughly $186 million for the Savannah harbor deepening project, as well as $230 million in smaller construction projects at Georgia’s Fort Benning, Fort Gordon and Robins Air Force Base.
It’s unclear how much of that money has already been committed to different contractors. Details were not immediately available from the White House about which specific projects Trump is planning to divert funding from to pay for a wall.
Carter and both of Georgia’s U.S. senators, David Perdue and Johnny Isakson, met with the leadership of the Ports Authority and the head of the Army’s civil works program Thursday to stress the importance of the dredging project. Work to deepen Savannah’s harbor bed from 42 feet to 47 feet has united politicians from all political stripes in Georgia, and it took years for the state’s congressional delegation to secure what they saw as adequate funding for the project.