US senate approves $12.3bn water bill

The U.S. Senate Thursday approved a $12.3 billion water projects bill authorizing 34 new projects over the next 10 years. Senators voted 91-7 for the measure. The House passed it Tuesday after key lawmakers spent six months blending separate House and Senate versions approved last year. The bill authorizes big new flood control projects for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Fargo, North Dakota, and dredging and harbor expansions in Boston, Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia. But it also puts an end to $18 billion in dormant projects that Congress had passed before the last round of $23.3 billion in water projects was approved in 2007.