Fiscal year 2015 Interior-EPA spending legislation approved by the House Appropriations Committee this month offers no funding for the new “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act” (WIFIA) and embraces President Obama’s proposal to cut $581 million from the budgets of the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) next year. The bill would also extend a requirement for the use of American-made iron and steel on projects funded through the DWSRF.
House appropriators approved the bill on July 15 by a party-line vote of 29 – 19. The measure includes $757 million and $1.018 billion, respectively, for the Drinking Water and Clean Water SRFs – equal to President Obama’s FY15 request for each program, but $581 million below their combined FY14 funding level. The bill would provide EPA with $7.9 billion overall, more than $700 million less than its current appropriation.
Other provisions in the legislation would eliminate a requirement that states set aside at least 10 percent of their annual CWSRF dollars for use on “green infrastructure” projects. In its place, the bill would allow each state to spend funds on green infrastructure or “other environmentally innovative” projects at their own discretion.
During committee debate lawmakers rejected an amendment from Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) that would have boosted the bill’s SRF funding by $470 million, with $105 million directed to the DWSRF and the remainder to the Clean Water fund. Rep. Moran’s proposal would have paid for the increase by redirecting some Western wildfire aid to a later emergency spending bill, but most committee Republicans opposed the amendment after noting the base bill would meet President Obama’s request for the SRFs. The Moran amendment failed by a vote of 21 – 27.
Committee members later unanimously agreed to an amendment from Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) to re-impose “Buy American” requirements for DWSRF projects funded in FY15. Rep. Aderholt’s amendment mandates the use of American-made iron and steel products on these projects unless EPA grants a waiver because the American materials would increase overall project costs by more than 25 percent or because sufficient quantities or quality of U.S.-made goods are not available. Congress had added an identical “Buy American” provision last year to EPA’s FY14 spending bill, and separate legislation enacted earlier this year made the requirement permanent for CWSRF projects.
The spending bill includes no FY15 funding for EPA to offer loans through the new WIFIA pilot program for large-scale water infrastructure projects. The lack of WIFIA funding was not unexpected, however, because the program was only enacted in June and EPA has only just begun the process of establishing the framework of how loan applications will be evaluated. But appropriators signaled a willingness to consider future WIFIA spending, approving report language that directs EPA to submit a detailed plan to Congress on how it expects to organize the program.
House Republican leaders have not announced whether they will bring the spending legislation up for a vote on the House floor before members depart Washington for the August recess.