Today’s release of the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget represents a milestone in political year budget submissions. The budget contains significant reductions in program spending while projecting trillion dollar deficits in the out-years. Despite the situation, the Administration is proposing to provide for funding of the SRF program along with core USEPA programs. A detailed analysis will be transmitted once a comprehensive review is conducted. However, as an update, the following summarizes the status of the proposed budget in key areas of interest to the committee:
* $2.025 billion for SRF program of which $1.2 billion is reserved for the clean water SRF program;
* Limits increased subsidies (low interest, negative interest and other forms of assistance) to not more than 30% of a state allocation of SRF funding, provided such assistance limited to amounts above $1 billion;
* Funding priorities will involve supporting small and underserved communities in need of federal assistance;
* An infrastructure bank is sought for implementation to fund water infrastructure needs in addition to other national infrastructure priorities (50% cost share);
* Target funding for National Estuaries (San Francisco Bay, Santa Monica, Monterey Bay and San Diego Bay); and
* Maintain general funding levels for enforcement of environmental mandates.
Update provided by Eric Sapirstein, ENS Resources
