In early June, the House Appropriations Committee held a full committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY2027) Interior, Environment and Related Agencies spending bill that includes a 16% reduction in State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) spending for water and wastewater projects.
According to a summary by the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the legislation was approved by the committee by a vote of 35-27 with little changes to the version of the bill that passed the Interior Subcommittee in May.
According to AMWA, the measure provides a total discretionary allocation of $38.9 billion, including a $1.8 billion reduction, 20 percent, to the total EPA budget. Here’s the breakdown in spending cuts for water programs:
It reduces funding for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs by about 16 percent from FY2026.
- $910 million for the Drinking Water SRF (down from $1.126 billion in FY2026).
- $1.192 billion for the Clean Water SRF (down from $1.639 billion in FY2026);
- $64.6 million to support WIFIA loans (equal FY2026);
- $2.25 million for Midsize and Large Drinking Water System resilience grants (equal to FY2026); and
- $22 million for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water grants (equal to FY2026).
The above reductions in funding were also included in the May Interior Subcommittee markup, AMWA said.
In terms of Congressionally Directed Spending, the committee also released a report in conjunction with the markup which details nearly 1,200 drinking water and wastewater infrastructure earmarks, totaling more than $1 billion, included in the FY2027 measure.
The next step for the legislation will come in late June when the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to unveil its own EPA spending proposal, which has rejected cuts proposed by the House in recent history.
The Senate will also introduce its own slate of recommended water infrastructure earmarks.
AMWA said all of these developments will set the stage for lawmakers to negotiate a final EPA spending package for FY27 later this fall.
Source/s: Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, EPA
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