August 2, 2016



WRRDA BILLS AWAIT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION IN SEPTEMBER



Congressional passage of the WRRDA and Clean Water and Drinking Water Appropriation bills has yet to be completed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. After Committee approval of the WRRDA reauthorization measures in both the House and Senate, floor votes in both chambers were halted due to concerns that the legislation would be amended with various EPA amendments that would not be acceptable to Republican leadership.



The Senate WRRDA reauthorization bill was released by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on April 28. The measure, S2848, contained funding and other significant provisions for clean water and drinking water projects. On May 25, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reported its WRRDA reauthorization legislation. Originally, the House reauthorization bill was going to include signifi cant funding for Clean Water and Drinking Water projects, however, those provisions were not included in the fi nal House Committee bill. Coalition Representatives had worked 

with members of the House T & I Committee to include Clean Water and Drinking Water provisions in the House bill and were optimistic that funding language would be included in the House measure.



Coalition representatives will work with members of both Chambers to advocate for inclusion of Clean Water and Drinking Water funding language to be added to the final legislation during conference negotiations on the bill between the House and Senate.



HOUSE PASSES CLEAN WATER AND DRINKING WATER FY 2017  APPROPRIATION MEASURES WHILE SENATE MAY PUSH FOR A CONTINUING RESOLUTION



The House of Representatives approved the federal fiscal year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill on July 14, 2016. This appropriations measure funds the Clean Water and Drinking Water



SRF programs at $2.1 billion. This represents an overall annual decrease to the combined CWSRF ($1billion) and DWSRF ($1.07 billion) programs of approximately $186 million. The House measure also funds the new WIFIA program at $40 million.



The Senate fiscal year 2017 Interior bill funds the Clean Water SRF at $1.35 billion, the Drinking Water SRF at $1.02 billion and $30 million for the WIFIA program. This represents an increase of $113 million over the FY 2016 enacted level. While the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the measure on June 16, 2016, the Senate is not anticipated to move to bill to a full Senate floor vote prior to the November elections. If this is the case, a Continuing Resolution will need to be moved in order to continue funding for these programs.



The Coalition will continue to aggressively advocate for the Senate appropriations measure that contains the higher spending amounts for the CWSRF and DWSRF programs.