House to vote on water infrastructure bill next week

The House will consider a $5 billion waterways bill to boost the nation’s ports, harbors, dams and other water resources next week, according to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)

{mosads}The legislation, known as the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), is also seen as the best vehicle to deliver emergency aid to communities like Flint, Mich., that are suffering from lead-contaminated drinking water.

But the House version does not contain the same clean drinking water provisions as the Senate WRDA bill — which was passed by the upper chamber last week — meaning that the two chambers would have to go to conference.

Supporters of Flint funding have been pushing to include emergency assistance in a stop-gap spending bill, though Ryan swatted down that idea on Thursday.

“That is an issue that should be dealt with in the WRDA bill,” he said at a news conference. “We’re bringing the WRDA bill up next week, the water resources bill, that’s where that belongs, in that conversation.”

The WRDA bill advanced by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee authorizes dozens of new Army Corps of Engineers projects that are offset by deauthorizing $5 billion worth of previously approved projects that are no longer viable.

It also permanently ensures that funds collected in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund will be used for their intended purpose. A portion of the fund’s revenue is often diverted to offset other congressional spending.

Because the measure only authorizes funding, appropriators would still have to dole out the actual funds.

Lawmakers will have to reconcile the $5 billion House legislation with the Senate’s $9.4 billion waterways bill, which contains $220 million in direct emergency assistance to address the drinking water crisis in Flint and authorizes $4.9 billion for drinking water and clean water infrastructure over five years.

With a packed legislative schedule and still no deal to fund the government past Sept. 30, however, a conference could slip until after the November elections.

—Scott Wong contributed