Water Infrastructure in Congress

Abstract

In late March, President Biden outlined his first major postpandemic priority—a massive infrastructure initiative called the American Jobs Plan. The US$2.2 trillion proposal includes everything from roads and bridges to climate resilience projects and home care, but water plays a key role. The plan provides $45 billion to replace all lead service lines in the country, $56 billion to support existing programs through grants and low-cost loans, and $10 billion to monitor and remediate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water and wastewater. Congress has begun turning the American Jobs Plan into legislative language, and each chamber is working separately on a water infrastructure component. The Senate has already passed a bipartisan bill, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 (DWWIA). DWWIA doubles funding for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program to $2.4 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022 and scales funding up to $3.25 billion by FY 2025. The bill also reauthorizes the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) and boosts funding for small and disadvantaged communities, lead service line removal, resilience and sustainability, and research. House committees are currently considering three major pieces of legislation with significant water infrastructure components, two related to drinking water and one to wastewater. The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation's Future Act (CLEAN Future Act) is a climate-focused bill that seeks to decarbonize entire sectors of the economy. The bill's environmental justice component includes $4.14 billion for the DWSRF in FY 2022, $5 billion over 10 years to cover capital costs associated with PFAS treatment, $45 billion over 10 years to replace lead service lines, and $500 million over 10 years to improve drinking water system resilience. The Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow's America Act (LIFT Act) is a more targeted version of the CLEAN Future Act meant to modernize the country's infrastructure and combat climate change, and includes many of the same drinking water provisions. The primary difference as it relates to water infrastructure is that the LIFT Act authorizes programs for five years, while the CLEAN Future Act authorizes programs for 10 years. The Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021 provides $50 billion over five years to address wastewater and water quality challenges. This includes $40 billion over five years for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program; $2 billion to capture, treat, or reuse sewer overflows or stormwater; $1 billion to implement PFAS treatment standards; and additional funding for pollution control programs, water resource management, and climate resilience. The size of the final package will likely be determined by its route to passage. Moderate Democrats would like to see a bipartisan compromise, which may ultimately pare down the plan's price tag and scope. Senate Republicans’ first two counteroffers came in at $568 billion and $928 billion—much of which would come from repurposing COVID relief funds—and excluded many of the provisions related to climate and less traditional infrastructure. Republicans have also ruled out any tax increases or a rollback of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a means to pay for the new spending. If Democrats determine that the two sides are too far apart or that further compromise would jeopardize the legislation's timeline and overall impact, they may decide to bypass the filibuster and pass the American Jobs Plan through budget reconciliation—the same budgetary maneuver used to pass the American Rescue Plan with only a simple majority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has pointed to July 4 as a soft deadline for the House to complete its work on the American Jobs Plan, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has made clear that DWWIA is just the first component of the Senate's work. As is often the case, the American Jobs Plan may look quite different from President Biden's original proposal if and when it becomes law. Nate Norris is the senior legislative analyst at the AWWA Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C.; [email protected].