众议院和参议院拨款委员会已批准了增加环境保护署为水基础设施提供资金的法案。但是,在徒步饮用水援助的同时,他们还为废水处理项目削减了资金。18luck官网

下一步将是潜在的地板投票,但目前尚不清楚法案是否会达到这一点。一方面,立法年度被7月的共和党和民主党总统公约和11月选举所截断。

In addition, both committees' measures include EPA policy riders that Republicans generally support but many Democrats do not. That split doesn't bode well for the bills' futures this year, lawmakers and industry officials say.

“The appropriations process is struggling,” observes Steve Hall, the American Council of Engineering Companies vice president of government affairs. “Certainly, we are going to need a short-term continuing resolution. And the question is, can we actually, perhaps after Election Day, wrap up the appropriations process or will Congress have to pass a longer-term CR?”

众议院拨款委员会于6月15日批准了其措施资金EPA和内政部;一天后,参议院小组效仿。两票都遵循党的界限。

There was contention over the environmental policy riders in both bills, including language to block EPA from implementing its new rule outlining which bodies of water qualify as “waters of the United States." Construction companies seeking to build in or near such federally regulated waters would have to get U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permits.

在参议院委员会的投票会议上,参议员理查德·杜宾(Richard Durbin)(D-ill)说:“由于这些骑手,该法案很可能永远不会落在地上。”杜宾说,相反,该法案更有可能成为年底持续解决方案的一部分。

参议院内政和环境小组委员会主席丽莎·默科夫斯基(R-Alaska)对民主党人的声称质疑骑手是“毒药”。

她说:“当我们谈论什么构成'毒药'时,这可能在情人眼中。”她指出,有32个州要求EPA的“美国水域”撤回统治并观察到该法规也已由联邦法院保留,直到解决诉讼为止。默科夫斯基说:“我们将包括在内的事实不足为奇。”

Sen. Tom Udall (N.M.), the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, acknowledged Murkowski’s willingness to work with him on Democratic priorities, including additional funding for water infrastructure.

但尤德尔补充称,他将have preferred a “clean" bill, without policy riders, which have derailed other measures on the Senate floor. “I’m not sure how many times we have to go through this process before it sinks in that adding controversial language doesn’t help get spending bills passed into law,” he said.

There was wide bipartisan agreement, however, on boosting water infrastructure funding. The $32-billion Senate bill increases funding for the clean-water and drinking-water state revolving funds (SRFs) by $113 million from the 2016-enacted level. Within the total, the committee hiked the drinking-water SRFs but pared the clean-water account.

该措施还为刚起步的水基础设施融资和创新法案提供了3000万美元,该计划由2014年《水资源改革与发展法》创建。这笔资金将使Wifia能够补贴其第一笔联邦贷款。

众议院委员会的法案将使饮用水SRF高于2016年颁布水平的2.07亿美元,主要是为了帮助城市(例如,密歇根州的弗林特)。众议院法案比参议院委员会对Wifia的法案更为慷慨,提供了5000万美元。

众议院内部环境小组委员会主席肯·卡尔弗特(Ken Calvert)表示,Wifia资金可以支持联邦贷款或贷款保证,以资助30亿美元至50亿美元的全国水基础设施项目。18luck官网

但是,众议院委员会的法案还通过将2017财年援助向清洁水SRF削减3.94亿美元,即28%,至10亿美元,从而抵消了饮酒水的增强。小组委员会的顶级民主党人贝蒂·麦克科勒姆(Betty McCollum)(明尼苏达州)说:“干净的水和安全的饮用水齐头并进。你不能没有另一个。”

众议院法案还将EPA的运营预算削减了1.64亿美元。麦考勒姆说:“这种削减将影响该机构保护人类健康和环境健康的能力,并确保为我们的家庭和子孙后代清洁空气和清洁水。”

ACEC's Hall, says, “We’d like to see as much as possible in all the accounts. ... The amount of need out there is far more than what Congress is putting in the SRF accounts.”