AMWA and a coalition of water and wastewater utility organizations last week criticized a proposal by House appropriators to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) and urged lawmakers to restore adequate funding to the programs.
In a letter sent to members of Congress on July 29, AMWA and 10 other organizations said the country “cannot allow the job of maintaining our critical water and wastewater infrastructure to become a budget casualty.” In light of the nearly $1 trillion worth of water infrastructure investment required over the coming decades, the groups called on lawmakers to fund the SRFs at their pre-sequester FY13 levels ($909 million for the DWSRF and $1.452 billion for the CWSRF).
The letter was sent in advance of a July 31 House Appropriations Committee markup of the draft FY14 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill that would reduce next year’s funding for the DWSRF by more than 60 percent to $350 million, while cutting the CWSRF by more than 80 percent to $250 million. The bill would reduce overall EPA funding to $5.5 billion – a cut of 34 percent.
The scale of the proposed cuts to the SRFs and other programs led to a contentious markup last week, with lawmakers offering numerous amendments to restore funding for various programs. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) offered an amendment to restore SRF funding to FY13 levels, but it failed along party lines.
The panel ultimately ran out of time as debate on the bill dragged on, and GOP leaders said further consideration would be postponed until September. The federal government’s new fiscal year begins on October 1, leaving Congress just three weeks to agree on a government-wide spending plan after lawmakers return to Washington.