House and Senate negotiators were unable to reach agreement on a compromise “Water Resources Development Act” (WRDA) before members of the respective chambers headed home for the holidays, thereby pushing final decisions on the bill and a proposed “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act” (WIFIA) pilot program into next year.
Though both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill had hoped to craft a compromise WRDA bill before departing for the holidays, the congressional schedule made that task challenging. For example, the House of Representatives departed Washington on December 13 – a full week before senators left town – robbing members of negotiating time. Staff-level discussions are expected to continue over the holidays, however, so a final agreement in January very much remains a possibility.
Throughout the month AMWA and others traveled to Capitol Hill to brief congressional staff on the importance of maintaining a WIFIA pilot program in the final WRDA bill. The Senate included a WIFIA pilot in the initial WRDA legislation the chamber approved in May, but AMWA is also asking conferees to make several important fixes – such as eliminating provisions that would cap WIFIA loans at 49 percent of a project’s total cost while barring the use of tax-exempt debt to finance the balance. These requested fixes have generally received positive feedback from congressional staff, though most have been hesitant to predict which provisions might ultimately win inclusion in the final WRDA bill.
As proposed by the Senate and supported by AMWA, WIFIA would offer a new stream of low-cost financing to help communities pay for large-scale water and wastewater infrastructure projects that are expected to cost more than $20 million. WIFIA would focus on projects that are too large to receive meaningful assistance through the existing Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs), but the proposal has drawn criticism from some state-based groups that fear WIFIA could cut into future SRF appropriations. AMWA and others have responded to such fears in the past, but the persistence of these claims present an obstacle to WIFIA’s path forward.
Another obstacle emerged early this month when the Obama Administration (via a letter signed by Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy) expressed concerns with WIFIA in a letter to WRDA conferees. The letter explained the Administration’s preference for a new National Infrastructure Bank – that would fund a variety of large-scale transportation, energy, and water projects – instead of a water-only WIFIA. It is not clear how much influence the Administration’s request will carry with conferees.
Despite these challenges WIFIA picked up support in recent weeks from groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities. AMWA is also asking its members to keep up the pressure on Congress over the holidays by asking lawmakers to support WIFIA and to fix the proposed tax-exempt debt provisions. Members interested in sending WIFIA support letters should contact AMWA’s Dan Hartnett ([email protected]) for more information.