Water Resources Bill to Be Considered in the House Next Week

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced the House will consider the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), H.R. 5303, on the floor next week.  Since the Senate passed a version last week of WRDA, S. 2848, questions have lingered on if the House would take up the House or Senate version of WRDA before Congress went into recess until after the election.  

There are significant differences between the House and Senate WRDA bills.  The Senate bill ($10.6 billion) is much larger than the House bill ($5 billion).  The Senate bill includes $4.9 billion for Environmental Protection Agency drinking water infrastructure programs and most notably, $220 million in loans and grants to provide assistance to Flint, Michigan.  It is unclear if House leadership will try to amend the House bill next week to add funding for Flint, Michigan.  If the House is able to pass H.R. 5303 next week, a WRDA bill could be signed into law before the end of the year.