Tammy Baldwin

A proposal for a federal program to protect the Mississippi River is in front of Congress for another time.

Spearheaded by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative is modeled after the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a popular and bipartisan program that has spent more than $4.5 billion since 2010 to address threats to the Great Lakes basin.

The river also needs this kind of investment, Baldwin contends, as it faces continued pollution and threats from invasive species. More extreme cycles of flooding and drought also affect the communities that live along it, as well as those who ship goods on the river to and from the central U.S. and other parts of the world.

“As communities along the river face more frequent flooding and worsening pollution, we must confront these challenges head on while also making the long-term investments needed to prepare for those ahead," Baldwin said in a July 28 news release.

First introduced in 2021 by U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and again in 2024 with Baldwin's backing in the Senate, the bill has thus far failed to find Republican support to move forward, despite the endorsement of dozens of groups that advocate for the river. McCollum is again authoring the companion bill in the House.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said the senator is engaging with river communities, nonprofits, municipalities and potential bipartisan cosponsors to promote the concept of the Mississippi River program.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would implement the program, according to the bill text, working with federal and non-federal entities to draft an action plan to improve the ecological health of the river. Projects would focus on improving water quality, restoring habitats, reducing the presence of invasive species and creating natural infrastructure to protect against flood damage.

The program also would create three research centers along the river corridor to study such issues.

One change in the newest version of the bill is the inclusion of the Hypoxia Task Force as an entity that is required to be consulted on the action plan for the river. The task force was established in 1997 to reduce the size of the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico (renamed by the U.S. government as the Gulf of America), which is a low-oxygen area that chokes off plant and aquatic life. Estimates show this summer's Dead Zone could be roughly the size of New Jersey.

The bill text states that the work of the river program may not "supplant the functions" of the task force.

McCollum's initial version of the bill would have appropriated about $300 million annually to support the program, which was dropped for its 2024 reintroduction. At the time, she told the Journal Sentinel that removing the appropriations language could be a necessary change to bring some lawmakers on board.

Slow progress on the Mississippi River program reflects a markedly different political environment than when the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was formed, river advocates have told the Journal Sentinel.

Though President Donald Trump proposed gutting funds for the Great Lakes initiative during his first term, Democrats and Republicans alike in Congress rebuffed the move. In March, the U.S. House passed legislation to reauthorize the initiative through 2031. It is still awaiting Senate passage and Trump's signature.