(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., received the 17th annual Waterways Council Inc. Leadership Service Award on Feb. 14 at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
McConnell was elected to the Senate in 1984 and is Kentucky’s longest-serving senator, elected in 2014 to a record sixth term. In 2015, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
McConnell was elected unanimously as Senate majority leader by his Republican colleagues, first in 2014 and again in 2016. He is only the second Kentuckian to ever serve as majority leader in the Senate.
McConnell is a longtime champion of America’s inland waterways. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, McConnell secured funding in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus appropriations bill for Kentucky priorities, including $225 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Olmsted Locks and Dam project and funding for other important infrastructure projects that help Kentucky’s inland waterways workers move agriculture and coal products more efficiently to market. He is also a strong supporter of Kentucky Lock.
“Waterways Council is so fortunate to have the opportunity to honor Sen. McConnell, a great waterways advocate and to thank him publicly for his commitment to America’s critical waterways infrastructure, to jobs, and to competitive access,” said Michael J. Toohey, president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc. “WCI’s Leadership Service Award has long recognized ardent American champions of our country’s critically important waterways transportation and port system. Sen. McConnell stands among them this year."
For more information about WCI, visit www.waterwayscouncil.org.
