EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy traveled to Capitol Hill last week to defend the agency’s FY17 budget request during a pair of hearings before House of Representatives committees.
Administrator McCarthy delivered similar testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. Echoing comments made earlier in the week at AMWA’s Water Policy Conference, McCarthy told each panel that EPA needs to “expand our impact through innovation” when delivering water infrastructure funding assistance, explaining that the State Revolving Funds (SRFs) “alone, while important, cannot and should not be relied upon to solve all infrastructure needs.” EPA’s FY17 budget seeks a total of $2 billion for the Drinking Water and Clean Water SRFs.
McCarthy’s testimony noted that the administration’s $20 million request for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) pilot program would allow the agency to begin making loans for “large innovative projects of regional or national significance,” with a potential FY17 loan capacity of “nearly $1 billion.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Reps. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), used the hearings to express support for boosting SRF funding next year. But the lawmakers also recognized that significantly increasing water infrastructure funding would be difficult within the constraints of a limited discretionary budget.
A letter sent by AMWA and other water and wastewater associations to Congress earlier this month recommended funding the SRFs at a total of $4 billion, while also funding WIFIA at its fully authorized $35 million level in FY17.