The Senate is poised to vote this week on legislation that its supporters see as critical in the wake of flooding in Louisiana and a lead water crisis in Michigan.
The $9 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2016 is on the Senate floor this week after flying through committee in April. The bill funds 25 Army Corps of Engineers projects worth $4.5 billion that lawmakers have already authorized, and would spend $4.8 billion on water infrastructure updates throughout the country.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday that the bill is the biggest thing on the Senate’s plate during its first week back from the summer recess.
“We’re going to try and pass the WRDA bill this week,” he said.
McConnell filed a motion to proceed on the bill Tuesday afternoon and senators were engaging in final negotiations over possible amendments to the bill Wednesday.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was one of the co-authors of the bill, along with Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and she told reporters that a hotline has been set up for senators to call and discuss any amendments they want to make to the bill.
Boxer said she didn’t anticipate any further delays. She said Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wouldn’t try and attach funding to fight the Zika virus or consideration of Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination to an otherwise popular and non-partisan bill.
“If we don’t have any problems on either side, we’ll be moving on it,” she said. “Even if we do, we can have a cloture vote and my prediction is it’ll pass easily because it’s such a good bill and so important for our states.”
She added, “We’re dealing here with coastal restoration, port development, navigation, flood control, lead in water. It just has some wonderful elements, so I feel good about it.”
One of the most popular parts of the bill for Democrats is a $220 million package that would go toward helping the eastern Michigan town of Flint, Mich., recover from a lead water crisis.
The deal, originally attached to a comprehensive energy bill that passed the Senate last week, would make $100 million available to any state experiencing a drinking water emergency, provide $70 million to back secured loans to upgrade clean water and drinking infrastructure, and authorize $50 million in funding for health programs to address and prevent the effects of lead exposure.
Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, Michigan’s Democratic senators, gave up a Department of Energy advanced vehicle fund to pay for the package in negotiations. Stabenow said Wednesday she’s confident the deal will make it over the line in the Senate.
“I believe we’re moving forward, at this point, at regular order,” she said.
More recent events have also placed a new emphasis on getting the bill done. Historic rains in the greater Baton Rouge area of Louisiana caused flooding that killed at least 13 people and more than $8 billion in damage. The storms that caused the flooding were deemed a once-in-a-thousand-year weather event.
On Wednesday, both of Louisiana’s senators took to the Senate floor to urge the upper chamber to bring the Water Resources Development Act up quickly because they believe the projects it would fund could have kept the flooding from being so bad.
Republican Sen. David Vitter said the projects contained in the WRDA bill have enormous bipartisan support and could keep similar destruction from happening to other parts of the country in the future.
“It is vital that we protect communities all across America, including in Louisiana, from disastrous flood waters,” he said. “Again, we must be proactive, aggressive, hold everyone accountable, certainly the Corps of Engineers as well as state and local partners to ensure that these flood protection projects get constructed on time.”
