参议院的一项主要水基础设施方案已在参议院提前发展,委员会批准立法,授权向陆军工程兵团项目和环境保护局的废水处理和饮酒水计划授权约195亿美元。新利18备用网址

参议院环境和公共工程委员会于5月6日批准了这两个单独的法案,均以21-0的票数为单位。

Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in his opening statement the two water bills, along with a $287-billion, five-year highway measure the panel approved last July “will be critical to our economic recovery after the immediate pandemic response is behind us.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Tom Carper of Delaware, said drinking water and wastewater systems as well as shipping channels and flood protection infrastructure “are essential to our economy and to our way of life, but they remain in desperate need of improvement and investments.”

立法的下一步将是地板行动。但是法律和游说公司琼斯·沃克有限公司的特别顾问约翰·道尔(John Doyle)说:“从这里移动的方式取决于任何数量的变量。”

他说,选择包括采取措施作为独立法案或将其与其他立法相结合,例如委员会的公路法案或未来的Covid救济措施。多伊尔(Doyle)以前是一名高级军事工程官员,他补充说:“目前尚不清楚这样的法案将如何移动,但在当前条件下尤其清楚。”

小组清除的法案之一是《美国2020年美国水基础设施法》(AWIA)。它为EPA的清洁水国家循环资金(SRFS)授权49亿美元用于25家兵团项目,并在新利18备用网址三年内为75亿美元提供了75亿美元的资金,这有助于资助废水处理设施。

卡珀指出,该法案将是自1987年以来清洁水SRF的首次重新授权。

The committee-approved AWIA authorizes 25 Corps projects, up from 20 in a draft version that Barrasso and Carper unveiled April 21. In all, the committee bill authorizes $4.9 billion in federal funds for those projects, a $663.5-million increase from the draft.

The price tag could grow further if the Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, signs more "chief's reports" recommending additional Corps projects.

The total cost of the 25 projects in the bill is $7.9 billion, counting the nonfederal funding shares.

If the legislation is signed into law this year, it would continue a recent string of water resources legislation enacted every two years. The last such bill, the 2018 AWIA, authorized $3.7 billion for 12 Corps' projects and $4.4 billion for drinking water infrastructure. It didn't include wastewater treatment funding.

The other bill the committee approved is the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020, which would provide $2.5 billion for EPA programs in that area, including the Drinking Water SRF.

All of the funds in the two 2020 bills would be subject to annual congressional appropriations.