The record-setting partial federal government shutdown came to an end on January 25 as President Trump and congressional leaders approved a stopgap plan to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations on funding for a southern border wall continue. The three-week funding reprieve, which will carry appropriations through February 15, continues funding for EPA and other federal agencies at their previous, FY18 levels.
Prior to the deal to end the 35-day partial shutdown, each chamber of Congress had held numerous votes on competing proposals to reopen the government. In the House, Democrats voted three times for versions of an FY19 funding plan that would preserve roughly level funding for EPA and its water infrastructure funding programs. The proposals would have delivered $1.164 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF), $1.694 billion for the Clean Water SRF, and $68 million for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, as well as $15 million for a new grant program to help communities and low-income individuals replace lead service lines.
The Senate, meanwhile, had considered a series of government funding plans over the course of January, but each failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to advance. Notably, one such plan advanced by Senate Republicans would have funded EPA and its water infrastructure programs at the same levels as proposed by the House, while also delivering President Trump’s requested funds for a southern border wall. Even though the chamber did not pass the proposal, its endorsement of the House’s proposed EPA funding levels strongly suggests that those numbers will be part of whatever final FY19 appropriations legislation is eventually passed.
With government employees back at work for the time being, a conference committee of House and Senate members has begun negotiations on an FY19 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which would include any additional wall funding that lawmakers may agree to. Should that issue be settled before February 15, then Congress would likely pair that agreement with a funding bill that would cover EPA and the rest of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. But should no border security funding deal be reached, lawmakers and President Trump will need to decide whether they want to risk another partial government shutdown over the issue in mid-February.