Deepening the channel from 40 to 45 feet would put the Philadelphia port in line with other major East Coast ports. The Port of New York will be deepened to 50 feet.
Obama's decision is the second welcome news in a week for the port. On Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers said it would provide $16.9 million this year to deepen a 15-mile stretch of the Delaware between Penn's Landing and Essington, starting in early August.
The $31 million, for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, would be used to blast rock in the river near Marcus Hook, one of the costliest parts of the project.
Deepening the channel has been debated for nearly three decades, and is staunchly opposed by some environmental groups and New Jersey, both of which sued to stop it. A federal judge in Trenton rejected their arguments, and the case is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.
A U.S. district judge in Wilmington rejected a parallel lawsuit in Delaware, and the project began in March 2010.
A combined effort by Delaware and Pennsylvania helped move the project forward.
Gov. Corbett in September freed up $15 million to continue the project. Originally, New Jersey was to be the local project sponsor, but the state balked. Former Gov. Ed Rendell said Pennsylvania would take the role.
Supporters say a deeper channel would allow bigger ships that are expected to come to the East Coast from Asia once the Panama Canal is expanded in 2014.
"We're going to get this thing finally done," Brady said. "I met with the vice president three times, and we talked on the phone I don't know how many times."
"I knew about this two weeks ago, but we couldn't make it public until it was in the president's budget, and it is," Brady said.
