The House on Wednesday passed a $5 billion water infrastructure bill that was critical in efforts to keep the federal government open past Friday.
The Water Resources Development Act of 2016, which was approved 399-25, provides funding for 28 Army Corps of Engineers projects around the country. Earlier on Wednesday, lawmakers voted to attach $170 million in funding for Flint, Mich., to the bill as well.
The bill was widely seen as easy pass before Democrats refused to vote for the continuing resolution that would keep the government running because it didn’t include funding for Flint. The Michigan city has been dealing with lead-contaminated water for about two years.
Late Tuesday, congressional leaders agreed to attach the funding for Flint to the water bill. That appeased Democrats in the Senate, who dropped their reservation about the continuing resolution, which would fund the government until Dec. 9, and paved a path for the funding bill to move through Congress.
Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., committed to bridging the gap on the Flint funding with the Senate, which approved a $220 million funding deal for the city, in conference committee. The Senate version of the water bill has a wider scope than the House bill and spends more than $9 billion.
“I am committed to getting this final infrastructure bill to the president’s desk,” Shuster said.
Shuster, as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was one of the main crafters of the water bill and was fighting through the grief of losing his mother earlier on Wednesday. He announced on the House floor that his mother had died but he wasn’t going to leave Washington without passing the bill.
“I know my mother’s smiling down on me today,” he said. “Mom, my work’s almost done.”
