Senate Moves on Water Bill with Flint Aid

Published on by in Government

Senate Moves on Water Bill with Flint Aid

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took the first procedural step towards advancing a $9.4 billion waterways bill that contains emergency funding for Flint, Mich.

9UEX67R.pngAlthough the Kentucky Republican moved to proceed to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) – which authorizes dozens of waterways projects around the country – an aide cautioned that there’s not yet an agreement on adopting the motion to proceed. 

“We’re working on it,” McConnell’s spokesman said.

The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee approved the WRDA bill by a 19-1 vote in April, fulfilling a promise from committee leaders to return to a two-year cycle of authorizing projects under the measure.

The legislation identifies $4.5 billion worth of water-related infrastructure projects and authorizes $4.9 billion for drinking and clean water infrastructure over five years.

The measure also provides $220 million in direct emergency assistance to address drinking water crises in communities such as Flint, where water from the Flint River corroded the city's pipes, contaminating the water supply with lead. 

The Flint component would be paid for by cutting funds from the Energy Department’s Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing Technology loan program.

“We’re back now and we have an opportunity to do some things,” EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said on the Senate floor earlier in the day. “If we get on that, this is going to be a thing that’s a benefit for everybody.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), ranking member on the panel, said that movement on WDRA may be getting caught in the crosshairs of a larger discussion about emergency funding for the Zika virus and President Obama’s stalled Supreme Court nominee.

The bipartisan WRDA bill is widely seen as the last opportunity to get a major piece of infrastructure legislation over the finish line this Congress. But it could also provide an opportunity for Democrats to secure a broader agreement to address other priorities.

“I think it’s just a question of Minority Leader Harry Reid’s desire to do Merrick Garland, Zika funding. I think it’s caught in a different discussion,” Boxer told reporters Tuesday.

“My leadership is saying that everything we do is related to inaction on Garland, inaction on Zika. The fact of the matter is, [Reid] is trying to get an agreement so we can do it all.”

But Boxer expressed confidence that there was enough desire to get an agreement on WRDA by the end of the week. 

“I’m very hopeful we’re going to turn to it by the end of the week,” she said. “We’ve got so much stuff that is so critical.”

Even though the Flint aid in the Senate’s WRDA bill could help incentivize leaders to quickly move on the legislation, it could also draw conservative opposition.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) stalled an energy modernization measure that had Flint aid earlier this year until the emergency funding was stripped from the package. 

“I worry about it, because you get something that’s good for everybody, and all the sudden opposition comes up and you don’t know what the source of that opposition is, but it’s there,” Inhofe said on the floor.

Source: The Hill

Media

Taxonomy

1 Comment