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Gov. Deal Vows to Move Foward with Port Project Despite Obama Funding Proposal Snub

March 5th, 2014

Governor Nathan Deal expressed disappointment today with the Obama Administration’s decision not to include any construction funding for the Port of Savannah deepening project in its budget proposal. The state had been hoping for nearly $400 million construction dollars. Instead, just over $1.5 million was designated for pre-construction engineering and design.

Governor Deal said he doesn’t know why the administration did not include the funding, especially after Vice President Joe Biden recently promised the project would get done “come hell or high water.”

“It sort of flies in the face of everything the president has said, and more particularly what the vice president said when he visited Georgia just a few weeks ago.”

Obama Administration officials have said the project can’t get underway until Congress approves a long-delayed water resources bill. And the Army Corps of Engineers has said the project can’t start with money the state has already has set aside. But Deal says language inserted into a spending bill Congress passed in January gives the state the authorization it needs to start the project.

“Do I hope the federal authorization level will be raised as a part of the water bill? I do hope that will happen, but we can’t afford to wait any longer. The authorization for us to move forward is in the Omnibus appropriations bill. We intend to do that.”

If state lawmakers approve an additional $35 million dollars that governor Deal requested for the project in the state’s 2015 fiscal year budget, it would bring the state’s total contribution to $266 million.

Deal hopes the state won’t have to raise the remainder of the $652 million for the project, but he says public-private partnerships are one of the options the state could explore if needed.

Democratic gubernatorial challenger and state Senator Jason Carter also said he’s disappointed, but the budget process in Washington is not over and Georgia has lawmakers who will fight for the project.

Carter accused Governor Deal of continually putting a “stick in the eye” of the Obama administration.

“I think we have seen consistently over the last three years the Governor has put politics first and solving problems second. That clearly contributed to what happened absolutely.”

“Deal responded by saying, “Surely to goodness someone who wants to be governor of this state would not say that the head of his own party is stooping to partisan politics on an issue that is so important to the economy of the entire state of Georgia. I am shocked that he would say such a thing.” Deal went on to say he’s not playing politics on this issue.