Title: Drinking Water Infrastructure for Job Creation Act
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Drinking Water Infrastructure for Job Creation Act
This bill provides $7.5 billion in supplemental FY2019 appropriations to the Environmental Protection Agency to remain available through FY2024 for capitalization grants to the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. (The program assists public water systems in financing infrastructure projects needed to comply with federal drinking water regulations and meet health objectives under the Safe Drinking Water Act.)
The funding provided by this bill is designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. The emergency funding is exempt from discretionary spending limits and is only available if the President subsequently designates the amounts as an emergency and submits the designation to Congress.
The bill also exempts the funding from sequestration. (Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.)

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1429 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1429

    Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for the 
     Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2019

 Ms. Waters (for herself, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. 
Clarke of New York, Ms. Moore, Mr. Sires, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Garcia of 
 Illinois, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. 
Omar, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cleaver, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. 
Espaillat, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. 
 Lee of California, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Hastings, 
   Mr. Lynch, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Sablan) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, 
  and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for the 
     Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Drinking Water Infrastructure for 
Job Creation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Investments in infrastructure create jobs while 
        fulfilling critical needs in communities throughout the United 
        States.
            (2) According to the Brookings Institution, nearly 14.5 
        million workers--11 percent of the U.S. workforce--were 
        employed in infrastructure jobs in 2013.
            (3) According to data from the Brookings Institution, 
        infrastructure occupations often provide more competitive and 
        equitable wages in comparison to all jobs nationally, 
        consistently paying up to 30 percent more to low-income 
        workers.
            (4) The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the 
        infrastructure of the United States an overall grade of ``D+'' 
        in 2017 and estimated that the United States will need to 
        invest $4.59 trillion by 2025 in order to improve the condition 
        of the Nation's infrastructure and bring it to a state of good 
        repair.
            (5) The American Society of Civil Engineers assigned a 
        ``D'' grade to the Nation's drinking water infrastructure and a 
        ``D+'' grade to the Nation's wastewater infrastructure and 
        estimated that the United States will need to invest $150 
        billion by 2025 to bring them to a state of good repair.
            (6) According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
        there are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks per year in 
        the United States, wasting over two trillion gallons of treated 
        drinking water.
            (7) In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
        reported that although exposure to lead can cause serious 
        health problems, including damage to the brain and nervous 
        system in children and kidney problems and high blood pressure 
        in adults, an estimated 6.5 to 10 million homes nationwide 
        receive drinking water through lead service lines.
            (8) Congress created the Drinking Water State Revolving 
        Funds in 1996 to help eligible public water systems finance 
        infrastructure projects in order to comply with Federal 
        drinking water regulations and meet the health objectives of 
        the Safe Drinking Water Act.
            (9) The EPA is required periodically to conduct a survey of 
        the capital improvement needs of eligible public water systems 
        and distribute funding appropriated for the Drinking Water 
        State Revolving Funds among the States based on the results of 
        the most recent survey.
            (10) In March of 2018, the EPA issued the 2015 Drinking 
        Water Needs Survey and Assessment, which is the most recent 
        survey of the capital improvement needs of eligible public 
        water systems and which estimated that $472.6 billion in 
        improvements are needed for the Nation's drinking water 
        infrastructure over 20 years in order to ensure the safety of 
        drinking water.
            (11) In fiscal year 2018, Congress appropriated $1.163 
        billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to enable 
        States to provide grants and financing assistance to eligible 
        public water systems in order to improve drinking water 
        infrastructure in communities throughout the United States.
            (12) Past appropriations for the Drinking Water State 
        Revolving Funds are not sufficient to address the tremendous 
        need for investments in drinking water infrastructure in 
        communities throughout the United States.
            (13) Appropriating $7.5 billion in fiscal year 2019 for the 
        Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, and allowing the funds to 
        remain available for 6 years, will enable States to begin 
        immediately to expand investments in drinking water 
        infrastructure in communities throughout the United States.
            (14) Restricting appropriations for the Drinking Water 
        State Revolving Funds through the use of arbitrary budget caps 
        or sequestration undermines economic recovery and job creation 
        efforts; disrupts planning by States, local communities, and 
        eligible public water systems; and leaves critical 
        infrastructure needs unmet.
            (15) Emergency supplemental appropriations for the Drinking 
        Water State Revolving Funds, provided in addition to other 
        appropriations and not subject to sequestration, will improve 
        drinking water infrastructure and create jobs throughout the 
        United States without reducing funding for other domestic 
        priorities.
            (16) An emergency supplemental appropriation of $7.5 
        billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to be made 
        available in fiscal year 2019, and to remain available for 6 
        years, will allow States to begin immediately to distribute 
        funds to eligible public water systems and allow local 
        communities and eligible public water systems to develop and 
        implement plans to improve drinking water infrastructure, thus 
        ensuring an efficient use of funds and timely job creation.

SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DRINKING WATER STATE 
              REVOLVING FUNDS.

    The following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for fiscal year 2019:

                    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

                   State and Tribal Assistance Grants

    For an additional amount for capitalization grants under section 
1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act in accordance with the provisions 
under this heading in title VII of division A of Public Law 111-5, 
$7,500,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2024: 
Provided, That the amount under this heading is designated by the 
Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) 
of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, 
except that such amount shall be available only if the President 
subsequently so designates such amount and transmits such designation 
to the Congress.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FROM SEQUESTRATION.

    The appropriation in section 3 shall be exempt from sequestration 
under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
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