Congress Passes $21.2 Billion in Infrastructure Funding

On March 23, the Senate passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill, which includes $21.2 billion in infrastructure funding and will fund the government through September 2018. This marks a $12.6 billion increase in infrastructure funding from the fiscal year 2017. The spending bill designates $1.4 billion for water infrastructure funding. According to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, this includes $500 million for grants for clean and reliable drinking water, and $918 million for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water resources infrastructure projects. President Donald Trump threatened via twitter that he may veto the bill over DACA and the border wall, as reported by CNN; however, he signed the omnibus spending bill the afternoon of March 23.

The omnibus, the collection of bills that passed, includes the Clean Safe Reliable Water Infrastructure Act which was introduced by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jon Boozman (R-AR). The bipartisan omnibus infrastructure legislation amends the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to include provisions for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure development.

The legislation included provisions to formally federally establish the U.S. EPA’s WaterSense program, a water efficiency product labeling program that seeks to identify water-efficient products and clearly label them for consumers. Additionally, S. 1137 would amend the revolving loan program under the Safe Drinking Water Act to make replacement and rehabilitation of aging public water distribution and treatment systems eligible for assistance.

The legislation would authorize Section 221 of the Clean Water Act, which authorizes grants for addressing combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflow, and storm water discharges, in total providing $1.8 billion in funds for these projects over five years, as reported by Contractor Mag. 

“This legislation helps tackle costs that come with making changes to water and sewer systems that have served millions of people for more than a century, but have become outdated and a threat to public health and the environment,” Boozman said.

This news report was updated 03/23/18 at 2:06 p.m. to reflect that President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill.