The FY17 budget request released by the White House on February 9 would reduce combined Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) appropriations by more than $250 million next year, a plan that brought swift criticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
The President’s $8.267 billion plan for EPA would provide the DWSRF with $1.02 billion next year, $158 million above the program’s enacted FY16 level, though well below the $1.186 billion Obama initially requested last year. Conversely, the CWSRF would see its funding cut by $414 million to $979.5 million. In sum, funding for the two SRF programs combined would see a net reduction of $257 million under Obama’s plan.
The President’s budget plan notes that “leaking water collection and distribution systems, and inadequate drinking water and wastewater treatment continue to plague municipalities across the country.” Defending the budget request, the plan says the budget will enable the SRFs to “continue to provide public health and environmental benefits along with the positive employment and economic benefits of infrastructure investment.”
But the White House request quickly met pushback from Capitol Hill, where members criticized the proposed CWSRF cuts and what many saw as still-too-low funding for the DWSRF.
“I am grossly disappointed that their proposal to increase the funding for EPA's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund would remove money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said in a statement responding to the request. “We cannot take money away from the fund that cleans up the polluted Flint River— the source of Flint’s drinking water – and put it into fixing Flint’s pipes.”
From the Republican side of the aisle, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the budget “shortchanges basic infrastructure needs.” Inhofe went on to say his committee would “seek to remind the administration of the critical nature of [the SRF] programs and of the new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act that provides another tool to help address our nation’s water infrastructure needs.”
Despite the early bipartisan opposition to the SRF proposal, there is no guarantee that Congress will boost water infrastructure funding in the final FY17 spending plan. For example, the final FY16 EPA appropriations bill enacted by Congress last year delivered approximately $2.25 billion in total for the two SRF programs – roughly $50 million less than the amount President Obama originally sought.