The full House Appropriations Committee on July 10 approved FY13 spending legislation that would cut billions of dollars from EPA and the State Revolving Funds (SRF) while toughening requirements that federal water infrastructure spending only support the use of American-made iron and steel.
H.R. 6091, which would fund EPA as well as the Interior Department, would provide EPA with just over $7 billion next year – representing a $1.4 billion cut compared to current levels. The Drinking Water and Clean Water SRF programs would together bear a cut of $866 million, leaving the DWSRF in line for $829 million and the CWSRF for $689 million. If enacted, this would reduce each program to its respective 2009 funding level.
Report language accompanying H.R. 6091 explained committee Republicans’ view that the SRF cuts are partly in reaction to the $6 billion infusion the programs received through the 2009 economic stimulus legislation, and a 130 percent funding increase they were awarded in FY10 compared to the previous fiscal year. In sum, the committee said, “this funding served as the equivalent of six years’ worth of appropriations in one calendar year.”
The committee went on to note that “EPA has $2.4 billion in unobligated SRF balances yet to be transferred to states,” and the states themselves “have yet to spend nearly $5 billion that the Federal government has allocated for drinking water and wastewater projects.” Until these funds are expended, House appropriators suggested that they would be reluctant to dramatically boost new SRF spending.
H.R. 6091 would continue a requirement that states reserve between 20 and 30 percent of their annual SRF dollars to provide additional subsidization for projects in small or disadvantaged communities that cannot afford to pay SRF loan rates, but would not mandate that states set aside any portion of their SRF funding to support green infrastructure projects.
The “Buy American” requirement, which was adopted by the committee on a unanimous voice vote, specifies that no SRF dollars shall be spent on a water infrastructure project “unless all of the iron and steel products used in the project are produced in the United States.” The amendment allows for exemptions in cases where such American-made products would increase overall project costs by 25 percent, are not of satisfactory quality, or otherwise “inconsistent with the public interest” as determined by EPA.
AMWA and other water sector organizations had earlier written to lawmakers to express concerns over the cost increases and regulatory burdens often associated with “Buy American” provisions, and this may have led supporters to narrow the amendment to only cover iron and steel products instead of “manufactured goods” more broadly. But supporters argued for the amendment by noting that the SRF is the only major federal infrastructure program without a statutory domestic preference for American-made iron and steel.
H.R. 6091 is unlikely to get an individual vote on the House floor; instead, the measure will likely be rolled into a post-election omnibus-spending package. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet released its own version of an FY13 Interior-EPA spending bill.