A draft FY14 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill approved by a House subcommittee last week would provide the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) with a record-low $350 million next year. If enacted, this would represent a cut of more than $550 million below the program’s enacted FY13 level and would come in at more than $1 billion less than the program’s funding level in FY10.
The steep DWSRF cut is partly a result of efforts by GOP lawmakers to produce enough discretionary cuts to meet spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as the sequester. The bill would fund the EPA at $5.5 billion, a reduction of 34 percent below its FY13 enacted level and would cut overall Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending by 19 percent.
The Clean Water SRF would suffer an even more severe cut, with funding reduced to just $250 million. In total the bill would slash SRF funding by roughly 75 percent compared to enacted FY13 levels. States would be required to reserve between 20 and 30 percent of their SRF allocations for principal forgiveness, grants or negative interest loans to low-income communities, and “Buy American” restrictions on the use of foreign iron and steel would apply to all projects funded by SRF dollars.
During last week’s markup, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) acknowledged the cuts “will be painful,” but warned that deep discretionary spending reductions will become more common until Congress reduces the “mandatory spending that is cannibalizing our government.” A GOP statement on the bill went on to say the measure “reflects significant efforts to rein in the EPA” and “costly and questionable regulations.”
Democrats on the subcommittee disagreed, with Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) calling the bill “an extraordinary departure from fulfilling our responsibility.” Full committee ranking Democrat Nita Lowey of New York also lamented the “draconian” SRF cuts and predicted they would cause local communities to raise their water rates.
The bill includes several policy riders, including a provision to block any use of funds for work on the Obama Administration’s proposed guidance to clarify the scope of federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction. The proposed guidance has been held up at the Office of Management and Budget for more than a year, and congressional Republicans have repeatedly offered proposals to block its advancement.
The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve the bill this week, but AMWA and a coalition of water and wastewater utility organizations are drafting a letter that will urge lawmakers to restore adequate funding for water infrastructure programs.