Senate to vote on WRDA; spending and energy talks continue
Source: Energy & Environment Daily
Published: Monday, September 12, 2016
The Senate is set to pass a $9 billion water projects bill this week as bicameral negotiations intensify over year-end spending measures and pending energy overhaul legislation.
The Senate is on course to pass a two-year reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act. A procedural vote is set for this evening that would limit debate.
Talks about the spending legislation, and perhaps an energy bill, are likely to occur today when President Obama hosts congressional leaders from both parties for a meeting on legislative priorities for the remainder of his term.
WRDA’s pathway
The WRDA legislation, S. 2848, would authorize dredging and other projects by the Army Corps of Engineers, and provide $220 million in assistance to Flint, Mich., in response to that city’s crisis with lead in drinking water.
The legislation would also provide for grant programs to replace lead water lines in communities nationwide and to test water for lead in schools.
Several proposed amendments to the bill are still being negotiated. Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) must approve them, according to bipartisan deal.
One of those amendments concerns a dispute between New York and Connecticut over the dumping of dredging material in Long Island Sound, which pits Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has demanded a vote.
Giving the bill momentum, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote senators late last week urging them to pass it, citing its spending on water and wastewater systems.
The House has yet to vote on its more narrow $5 billion version of WRDA, H.R. 5303, that won the bipartisan backing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in May.
A House GOP aide said leaders had yet to decide whether the measure would get floor time in the final months of this Congress.
Unlike the Senate WRDA, the House bill does not provide any money for Flint, in part because the T&I Committee lacks the authority to approve money for drinking water projects.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member on T&I, said he was still hopeful the House could pass its version and have negotiations with the Senate before the end of the year.
He noted the current WRDA authorization does not expire until early 2017, so it would not need to move until the lame-duck session.
DeFazio conceded that some House Republicans are likely to oppose the higher spending in the Senate bill and the Flint aid.
“I am not concerned about levels of spending,” said DeFazio, noting the Army Corps faces a $40 billion project backlog and Flint is a “pretty urgent situation.”
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Tags: ater, energy, legislation, water, WRDA