Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tenn.) – President Barack Obama has signaled he will cut the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget by more than half next year, putting a potential squeeze on funding for Chickamauga Lock renovations.

The president’s fiscal 2010 proposed budget, released this month, shows the corps’ funding dropping 54 percent from fiscal 2009 levels to $5.1 billion, partly due to an impending shortfall of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.

But Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., noted the recently passed economic stimulus bill contains $4.6 billion for the corps. [read more…]