Last Word – What We Learned from the 118th Congress & What’s Ahead for the 119th?

Dye

The 118th Congress wraps up at the end of 2024, and the 119th Congress starting in January 2025 will likely be one of the most consequential for federal policy and funding in recent history.

This article takes a quick look back at what did and didn’t happen in 2023-2024, and why the nation should expect 2025-2026 to be directly and indirectly important for the water sector. 

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With one eye on the past and one on the future, NASSCO has been and will continue to advocate directly and through grassroots efforts for what’s critical for the buried water infrastructure sector.

2024 in Review

As of the time of the writing of this article (October 2024), it can be generally summarized that Congress took a pass on enacting significant policy and funding legislation in 2024. Specifically, to water, Congress took no action on legislation that impacts the water sector, such as stalemate on a package to help utilities deal with PFAS.

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Congressional inaction can be chalked up to either lethargy leading into a monumentally important November 2024 general election, or political deadlock due to a divided House and Senate, both with close margins of majority control. 

Unless passed during the lame duck session after the general election, dying on the vine will be bills like immigration and border reform, the farm bill, veterans’ reforms, health coverage reforms, railway safety, online child protections, and several important tax bills.

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Congress also has played it safe on the FY24 (Oct. 2023 – Sept. 2024) and FY25 (Oct. 2024 – Sept. 2025) budgets by providing level funding for most programs and not following through on the increased funding for programs authorized to receive increases, such as the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, the Sewer Overflow & Municipal Reuse Grant Program (OSG), all of which are programs strongly supported by NASSCO.

In addition to NASSCO’s steadfast advocacy for as much funding as possible for water infrastructure projects, in 2024 NASSCO continued to educate Members of Congress about the importance of local Asset Management Plans for buried water infrastructure and the need for federal funding and policies to help utilities do them.

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NASSCO also urged the passage of H.R. 2964/S. 1350, the Water Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety (WIPPES) Act in the House and Senate, which would require all wipes packages to be labeled as Do Not Flush. Another bill that NASSCO and many other national water associations advocated for was H.R. 8032/S. 3830, the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program Establishment Act, which will create a permanent assistance program to help low-income households pay their water bills. Unfortunately, both of those important bills have not passed at the writing of this article.

In the waning days of 2024, NASSCO has calls-to-action on all these bills for water professionals to write their Members of Congress through the NASSCO Sewer System Heroes grassroots platform. Simply text PIPE or WIPES to 844-SEWER10 (844-739-3710) to receive a link to send support letters to Congress.

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On Tap for 2025 and Beyond

Much hinges on the results of the 2024 general election. The legislative agenda will depend upon who resides in the White House, and which party is in control of the House and Senate, both of which will likely be narrowly controlled by the majority. If the new President’s party controls both the House and Senate, expect Congress over the next two years to move quickly on executing uncompromising legislation that reflects the President’s policy priorities. No matter the election results though, several major legislative matters will almost certainly be on tap for the 119th Congress. These include:

Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) (a.k.a. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) Reauthorization – The IIJA expires at the end of 2026, which means a substantial amount of funding guaranteed for water infrastructure will end. Congress will either need to pass another similar infrastructure package or commit to increasing annual appropriations for water infrastructure funding programs. Years 2025 and 2026 will be spent building support to maintain the IIJA funding levels and develop a legislative package to do so. 

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NASSCO will have a clear and aggressive agenda to advance the needs of the buried water infrastructure sector, which will include increased funding, adoption of asset management planning requirements, and new initiatives to help communities. 

Expiring Trump-era Tax Policies

Trump will likely push Congress to extend and expand his 2017 Tax Bill, which expires in 2025. Harris will likely let most provisions expire and push tax increases for ultra high-income earners and corporate income. 

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NASSCO will be engaging with Congress on tax credits and incentives to increase funding for water infrastructure projects.

Economic Policies to Address Inflation, Tariffs, and other Economic Matters

Both Harris and Trump have economic plans that will attempt to address high food costs, tipped wages, and tariffs to protect domestic productivity.

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Immigration and Border Reform, part 2

Trump and Harris have starkly different visions on how to address immigration and border concerns, and Congress will likely make another run at putting together clear federal policies on this thorny problem.

Maintaining or Rolling Back Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) policies

Trump and Republicans have expressed a desire to roll back many tax incentives and grants in the IRA. Harris and Democrats will look to strengthen and possibly expand them where appropriate.

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Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Legislation

Thus far Congress has done little to help address growing cybersecurity threats from foreign adversaries. Similarly, Congress has spent the last couple years learning about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Artificial Intelligence. On both issues it’s expected Congress will take up legislation in 2025.

Farm Bill

If a package isn’t finalized during the lame duck session, Congress will likely attempt to get a deal together early in 2025 since this major legislation is vital for farming interests, rural communities, and nutritional security for millions of Americans.

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PFAS Legislation

For the last several years Congress has been unable to move on any significant legislation to help communities and businesses address this increasingly challenging problem for drinking water and wastewater utilities. Expect Congress to take up a package that provides increased funding for research and development, innovative technology development, and better legal and regulatory certainty through the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, RCRA (solid waste law), and CERCLA (SuperFund).

Government Reform

Both Harris and Trump have called for reforms to the federal government. Trump wants to reduce the size and scope of the government and its regulatory powers and has proposed moving federal agencies out of the DC area. Harris will likely support Senate filibuster reform and a soft push on US Supreme Court reforms. 

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While water funding and policy will obviously be a major part of any legislation dealing with the expiring IIJA and the 2017 Tax bill, many communities’ water infrastructure investments benefit tremendously from the IRA and the Farm bill, so the water sector will need to be engaged on any actions Congress considers on those bills in 2025 and 2026. 

Additionally, AI has become a critical tool for the water sector, being used for things like condition assessment, treatment-works efficiency, and CSO, SSO, and stormwater collections system capacity optimizations. It will be important that Congress not hamper the beneficial uses of A.I. when it considers legislation to protect the general interests of the American public.

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FY26 Budget

The final, and arguably the most important issues, before Congress in 2025 will be the FY26 Budget. If past is prologue, the FY26 Budget will be the canvas by which the new President paints his/her priorities. Over the last several years, Congress has generally played it safe with overall funding levels and provided limited funding for new initiatives. For example, many of the new water-related grant programs created by the IIJA haven’t received initial funding through the annual appropriations process. 

While the next President might not change how much overall funding Congress provides in FY26, the next President will give Congress clear directions on how that funding should be prioritized, such as more or less funding for domestic programs, defense spending, and even funding levels for IRS tax enforcement. If the party of the new President controls both the House and Senate, expect the FY26 and FY27 budgets to be extremely politicized.

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Since municipal water infrastructure is an apolitical matter, it remains the water sector’s job to tenaciously educate and urge support for maintaining and increasing funding for all the programs that fund local water infrastructure projects, such as the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, WIFIA, Sewer Overflow & Municipal Reuse Grant Program (OSG), USDA Rural Water and Waste Grants/Loans, and several smaller grant programs through the EPA.

Just as you did when you executed your constitutionally protected right to vote on Nov. 5, you also should execute your First Amendment right to petition your government in 2025.

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NASSCO and most other national water associations have grassroots advocacy programs that make it easy to engage with your Members of Congress on important water issues. NASSCO’s grassroots program is accessed by texting PIPE to 844-SEWER10 (844-739-3710).

As this article details, a host of water and non-water policy issues will be before Congress in 2025, and you should feel emboldened to let your elected officials know what’s important to you and the water sector.

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Steve Dye, is president of Nexus Government Relations and is a consultant to NASSCO.

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