A week after urging Senate leaders to schedule a vote on water resources legislation this summer, AMWA joined a coalition of 16 water and municipal organizations in asking the House of Representatives to quickly bring up its own version of the “Water Resources Development Act of 2016” (WRDA) so lawmakers will have time to approve a final bill before the end of the year.
The letter asks House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to bring the House WRDA bill (H.R. 5303) before the chamber as soon as possible. The letter also notes that “time is running short to enact [WRDA legislation] this year and maintain its two-year authorization cycle.”
AMWA and other municipal organizations had previously asked Senate leaders to schedule a summer vote on that chamber’s more comprehensive WRDA bill (S. 2848), which includes a series of new programs and funding to help communities and schools upgrade their drinking water infrastructure to reduce public health threats related to lead and to address other failing water infrastructure. The House bill does not include funding for these drinking water objectives, but if both chambers approve their own versions of WRDA then a congressional conference committee will be tasked with negotiating a final bill that could include some drinking water funding provisions.
As of Friday afternoon there were no indications that either WRDA bill would be scheduled for a vote this week. If the bills are not placed on the agenda, then each chamber could still consider the legislation when lawmakers return in September – though that would leave much less time to negotiate a final WRDA bill before the end of the year.