Peters Secures and Helps Advance $235 Million in Federal Funding for Soo Locks

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) secured $235 million in federal funding for the Soo Locks while helping the Senate Appropriations Committee pass the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act. The bill, which includes Soo Locks funding, now advances to the full Senate as Peters continues to work with his Senate colleagues on legislation to fund the federal government.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, is considering their own funding bills. The Senate and House will then need to reach an agreement on a final funding bill and have it pass both chambers before being sent to the President to be signed into law.  

“The Soo Locks are critical to Michigan’s economy and to our entire country,” said Senator Peters. “There’s no question that continuing to modernize the Soo Locks is long overdue – and even a temporary shutdown of one lock would have incredibly harmful impacts on Great Lakes commerce, jobs, national supply chains and our national security. After fighting hard for the necessary resources, I’m pleased to have secured this funding for these major upgrades to the Soo Locks.”

The President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2024, which was announced on March 9, 2023, did not originally include a funding request for the Soo Locks project. Knowing the importance of the Soo Locks to Michigan, the U.S. economy, and national security, Peters and Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI) spoke with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young in March to stress the importance of the Soo Locks. Following this call, OMB sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers that directed Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor to change the funding classification of the Soo Locks, and then notified Congress of this change. As a result of the Senators’ efforts, the Soo Locks modernization is now a project officially requested for $235 million in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Peters continued advocating for Soo Locks funding and working to make sure it was included in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

This builds on Peters’ work to fund upgrades for the Soo Locks. Peters and Stabenow were instrumental in enacting the bipartisan infrastructure law, including $479 million they announced in January 2022 for modernizing the Soo Locks. In December 2022, they helped pass the bipartisan Water Resources and Development Act as part of the annual national defense bill and it included needed funding flexibility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep building a new lock at the Soo on schedule.

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