Last week, a House appropriations subcommittee approved an FY25 spending bill that would set the EPA's budget at $7.36 billion for the next fiscal year. This represents a significant 20 percent reduction, or $1.8 billion cut, from the FY24 enacted budget of $9.16 billion.
Earlier this year, AMWA, along with five other water sector organizations, urged House appropriators to ensure full and robust funding for water infrastructure programs in FY25. But although Republican appropriators are seeking significant overall reductions to EPA’s budget, appropriations for several AMWA-backed water infrastructure programs would be maintained with level funding consistent with FY24 amounts. However, the bill would make severe cuts to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs.
The bill would allocate $883 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and $1.203 billion for the Clean Water SRF (CWSRF), both significantly reduced from the respective FY24 levels of $1.126 billion for the DWSRF and $1.639 billion for the CWSRF. Of the total $2.086 billion SRF appropriation proposed for FY25, $1.033 billion would be set aside for 895 drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater management project earmarks. The complete list of the House’s proposed earmarked projects will be released when the full Appropriations Committee considers the spending bill, though the final list of earmarked projects will be subject to negotiations with the Senate later this year.
AMWA-supported programs that would receive flat funding under the spending bill include:
- $64.634 million to support up to $12.5 billion in loans through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act or WIFIA program, with $5 million reserved exclusively for loans to state infrastructure financing authorities;
- $22 million for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water grants;
- $2.25 million for the Midsize and Large Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Program;
- $28 million for lead testing in schools and childcare centers; and
- $5 million for Water Infrastructure Workforce Investment grants.
The full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the Interior-EPA spending bill on July 9th, while the Senate is expected to present its own EPA spending plan later this summer. Lawmakers will then negotiate a final spending plan for the 2025 fiscal year that begins on October 1, but it is unlikely that a final FY25 appropriations agreement will be reached by that date.