PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 29, 2017
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Reform Act of 2017
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make certain amounts in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund available, without appropriation, to pay
100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs of specified portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes) as well as those assigned to commercial navigation of all U.S. harbors and inland harbors;
rebates of certain tolls or charges on the Seaway; and
all expenses of administration relating to harbor maintenance tax incurred by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Commerce.
The bill also amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to require
allocation to certain donor ports and energy transfer ports of at least 20% of amounts made available each fiscal year from the trust fund, and
the Department of the Army to make allocations equally between these types of ports.
People & committees
Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] · D–WA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1488 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1488 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1488 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1488 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.