Clean Water Current

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees made additional progress last week on 12 appropriation bills for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 (Oct. 1, 2025 – Sept. 30, 2026), which they must pass by Sept. 30, 2025, to fund the government for FY 2026. Of particular importance for NACWA members, the House and Senate’s Interior and Environment appropriations bills were approved by their respective committees.   

While the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill with smaller cuts than those that were proposed in President Trump’s budget request, the bill still slashes EPA funding by 23 percent EPA’s budget, affecting critical water infrastructure funding. The bill was approved on a party line 33-28 vote.   

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bipartisan bill with much smaller funding cuts. Interior-Environment Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), called the package, “a strong, thoughtful bill that can pass the Senate on a bipartisan basis.”  

The Senate’s bill would still cut EPA’s funding by 6 percent, but the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) would remain at current levels. The bill was approved with 26-2 vote.  

Although initial congressional and White House budget negotiations proposed severe cuts to the SRFs and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, the bills are a more positive outcome than feared for clean water and reflect the strong advocacy and member engagement on this issue with Congress.   

Below is a snapshot of some of the funding levels for the most critical clean water and water infrastructure programs in the House and Senate’s Interior and Environment bill: 

Neither the House nor Senate versions of the bill are expected to move forward to their respective chamber’s floor before September. The House of Representatives has adjourned for its summer recess, and lawmakers will not return until September. Senators are expected to leave by the end of this week for their summer recess.  

Congress will need to reconcile any differences between House and Senate versions of all 12 subcommittee funding bills before Sept. 30 to keep the government funded. Due to the summer recess, it is expected that Congress will miss this deadline and pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government at its current levels until Congress can agree on the funding bills.    

It is also possible that the bills won’t be finalized this fiscal year, and the government will operate under a full-year continuing resolution. Since a finalized FY 2026 budget would likely be a compromise between the House and Senate versions—potentially reducing funding—a continuing resolution that keeps funding at last year’s levels might be the best-case scenario for funding water programs. 

NACWA continues to advocate strongly with Congress for robust funding for clean water programs in the FY 2026 appropriations cycle. However, in addition to NACWA’s efforts in Washington, it is also vitally important that NACWA members continue to contact their members of Congress and advocate for the highest possible levels of funding for key clean water programs, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the WIFIA. Members may use this template letter to help with outreach.      

Members with questions may contact Kaitlyn Montán, NACWA’s Director of Legislative Affairs.