NACWA December 2006 Legislative Update

In addition to the creation of two new global warming subcommittees, Boxer created the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to be chaired by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), which will have oversight for WRDA, the Mississippi River Commission, and green buildings, in addition to transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.  The Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection, to be chaired by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), will cover fisheries and wildlife, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the National Wildlife Refuges in addition to global warming.  Boxer also created the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Nuclear Plant Security and Community Development, to be chaired by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), and the Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health, which will be chaired by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).  Leaving the committee is Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who was replaced when Sen. Boxer announced the addition of four incoming  freshmen members to the EPW Committee, including Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Current EPW Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) is being challenged for the top Republican spot on the full committee by Virginia Senator John Warner.  Sen. Warner, in launching his bid for Ranking Member on the EPW Committee, said that since he has concluded his chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee and, in keeping with the six-year term limit established by Republican Conference rules, he will not assume the Ranking Member position on that Committee.  Sen. Warner said, “As senior Republican on the Senate EPW Committee, I intend to submit my name for election as the Ranking Minority member of that panel.”  He has served on the committee since 1987 and is widely viewed as a more moderate voice on global warming, clean water, and other environmental issues than Sen. Inhofe, who intends to fight to retain the Ranking Member’s seat.  The Senate Republican leadership is expected to finish selecting their ranking members by December 15.

New House Committee Chair Will Focus on Priority Clean Water Issues
In the House, Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), a leading advocate for clean water issues, will take over the powerful Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee in the 110th Congress.  Mr. Oberstar said at a November news conference that his priorities for the Committee for next year are passage of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), renewal of the clean water state revolving loan fund, reauthorization of the Aviation Trust Fund, strengthening the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and dealing with port security.  At a news conference, Oberstar was quoted as saying, “the Clean Water State Revolving Loan fund has been bottled up for at least six years.  In our committee, we had a bipartisan agreement on a $20 billion package to replenish the fund, but Tom Delay (former House Majority Leader) … refused to allow that bill to come to the House floor.”

The position of ranking member of the T&I Committee will be assumed by Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the out-going chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, who beat Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), a cosponsor of the NACWA-supported Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560). The current chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment, Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (TN), sponsor of H.R. 4560, earlier dropped out of the race for the ranking member position.  Rep. Oberstar has not yet indicated whether he will shuffle subcommittee assignments in the T&I Committee, which could affect the chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.  Currently, Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) is Ranking Member.  Republicans also are expected to make changes to the ranking member slots on the subcommittees.  If Chairman Duncan does not get the nod to move into the top minority spot on the Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee, the ranking member seat could go to either Wayne Gilchrest (MD) or Vernon Ehlers (MI).

According to staff from incoming T&I Committee Chairman Oberstar’s office, the first clean water issue to be tackled could be a hearing and a bill to make programmatic changes to the Clean Water Act, including the reauthorization of the expired clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF).  Such a bill could be very similar to two previously introduced bills - the Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930) and the Water Quality Financing Act of 2003 (H.R. 1560) – which would have authorized $20 billion over five years from the U.S. Treasury.  It is likely that any new bill next year would have to identify where the revenue would come from in the federal budget.  House staff indicated that the issue of new, dedicated revenues for clean water may be addressed as part of a broader funding bill but did not rule out a separate effort.  According to the staff, a trust fund bill would have to explore contributions from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Treasury, a fee on the causes of pollution (pollutants and their sources), and a broad-based corporate revenue stream.  NACWA will work with incoming Chairman Oberstar to increase the amount of federal funding to communities for clean water infrastructure projects.

Democrats Ready to Take Over Appropriations Committees
The leadership of the congressional appropriations committees, and the subcommittees that oversee EPA’s budget, will change hands in January 2007 when the 110th Congress convenes.  Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), widely expected to become chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, may instead take over the influential Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  In that case, Democrats who could be appointed to head the Interior, Environment panel include Reps. Alan Mollohan (WV), James Moran (VA), and John Olver (MA).  Republican Zach Wamp (TN) is expected to be appointed the ranking member of the Subcommittee. The full House Appropriations Committee will be chaired by Democratic Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin.

In the Senate, Robert Byrd (WV) will chair the full Senate Appropriations Committee and either Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) or Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) will lead the Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee.  Also of note, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) will return to the Appropriations Committee along with Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ben Nelson (D-NE).

FY 2007 EPA Budget Bill Left Unfinished
Congress returned briefly to the nation’s Capitol the week of December 4, to finish a minimal amount of legislative work but is expected to adjourn the 109th Congress without acting upon nine appropriations bills that fund dozens of government agencies, including EPA.  Congressional staff report that a continuing resolution is being prepared that will keep the departments and agencies up and running until February 15, after the 110th Congress convenes and Democrats take control of both chambers.  EPA will operate at the funding levels of either the House-passed FY 2007 appropriations bill or the FY 2006 approved budget, whichever is lower.  The House earlier in 2006 passed its version of EPA’s budget in the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 5386) (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm#3) and included a cut of $200 million to the clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF).  The Senate Appropriations Committee then agreed to the House cut, which would drop funding for the CWSRF to $688 million.

Conservation Champion Returns to Chair of Agriculture Committee
The change in congressional leadership will return Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to the chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.  As former chair of the Committee, Harkin was the Senate’s leader in crafting the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, also called the Farm Bill.  He again will take the committee’s top spot to draft new legislation next year.  Harkin has stated he will emphasize conservation funding as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency in a new bill.   In the House, Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson is set to become chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.  Republican Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, who has a good working relationship with Peterson, moves back into the ranking member’s seat.  As soon as the political parties assign Members to the committees and settle into their new offices on Capitol Hill, NACWA will reach out to them to build support for the Association’s water quality priorities in the upcoming Farm Bill.

As congressional members prepare for next year, NACWA has been distributing its Issue Paper, titled 2007 Farm Bill Reauthorization and Potential Clean Water Benefits (http://www.nacwa.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm) to organizations representing the interests of farmers, conservationists, environmental advocates, and others to solicit their support for NACWA’s water quality goals.  NACWA will take an active role in the reauthorization of the 2002 farm bill over the next two years to ensure that the billions of dollars paid annually to farmers and ranchers under the legislation’s conservation programs achieve real water quality benefits that accrue to urban, suburban, and rural waterways.  Because the current authorization for the farm bill expires at the end of 2007, Congress may have to pass an extension of the deadline before a new, six-year bill can be approved by lawmakers and signed into law.

NACWA is also working with key conservation organizations including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Ducks Unlimited, the American Sportfishing Association, to promote its Farm Bill agenda.

Rep. John Dingell Reclaims House Energy and Commerce Committee
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) returns to familiar territory next month as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a panel he led from 1981 to 1995.  Slipping into the ranking member’s seat on the opposite side of the aisle will be Republican Joe Barton (TX), the outgoing Chair of the committee.  Although assignments have not yet been made, the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, which has jurisdiction over the Safe Drinking Water Act, drinking water security, and related issues such as perchlorate, radon and lead, could be chaired by current Ranking Member Hilda Solis (D-CA) with current Chairman Paul Gillmor (OH), moving into the ranking member slot.  Although Dingell has not announced his full agenda for the Energy Committee, he has promised oversight hearings on current Administration policies that could include drinking water protection, superfund cleanup and climate change.  With the increase in cross-cutting clean water and drinking water issues, NACWA’s involvement with this key committee is expected to ramp up significantly.

Water Resources Bill High on Next Year’s Agenda
Time has run out on efforts by key members in the House and Senate to reach a compromise on and pass the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2005 (S. 728), which was last renewed by Congress six years ago.  The legislation funds U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects and was approved in July by the Senate nearly a year after the House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 2864).  Both of the bills and their accompanying reports can be found on the NACWA Bill Tracker (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm).  In addition to funding a significant backlog of Corps projects, the WRDA bill includes projects for municipal wastewater treatment and water supply facilities.  These ‘earmarked’ projects, which have boosted the cost of the bill, are supported by the House but opposed by the Senate and are likely one of the roadblocks that have prevented lawmakers from making a deal on a compromise bill.  Incoming House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) has stated he will make passage of WRDA a top priority of the Committee next year.

Homeland Security Panels May Revive Chemical Security Bills
Incoming Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) expects the Committee to continue to work on a bipartisan basis and has said that he and soon-to-be Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME), had worked well together in the past.  Lieberman wants to spend more time on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and listed his early priorities as interoperable communications equipment, more resources to state and local first responders, homeland security grant distribution, better information-sharing, and more transit security funding.  To date, there has been no mention of a revival of the sweeping security legislation that he and Sen. Collins proposed last year.  In the House, however, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), incoming Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told reporters he will seek to strengthen security regulations for chemical plants and container cargo and also try to boost funding for rail and mass transit.  Like Sen. Lieberman, oversight of DHS programs is high on Thompson’s agenda.  Outgoing Chairman Peter King (R-NY) will become the ranking member of the House Committee next month.  NACWA has worked with staff of both Homeland Security Committees and will continue to work with them on any issues that may affect NACWA members.