Legislative Update: Gov. Heads Toward Shutdown Once Again, Farm Bill Date Slides to December

House Passes Interior-Environment Appropriations with Amendment to Curb EPA’s Flawed Chemical Risk Assessment Program

The House passed (213-203) its Interior-Environment bill (HR 4821) on Nov.3 with an important amendment restricting funds to be used under EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System.   The Vinyl Institute had issued a call to action encouraging members to contact their representatives and urge them to support Rep. Glenn Grothman’s (R-WI) amendment, which would curtail the EPA’s utilization of a flawed assessment system for regulating chemicals. VI argues that the method of selecting substances for IRIS hazard assessment remains vague, and it is unclear how the chemicals under review by the program will influence regulatory decisions made by the Agency. Furthermore, stakeholders have no opportunities to provide input on IRIS assessment priorities.

The final $37.4 billion House spending bill was cut by $5.6 billion, equaling a 13 percent decrease from the fiscal 2023 enacted level.  Other bill highlights include:

• Appropriates $6.2 billion for the EPA, nearly $4.0 billion (39 percent) less than FY 2023 and 49 percent less than requested, with cuts to almost all EPA accounts and programs.
• EPA infrastructure grants will be reduced by 55 percent–including a 67 percent cut for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and a 59 percent cut for the Drinking Water SRF.
• Provides $72 million (5 percent less than FY 2023 and 10 percent less than requested) for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, which helps finance long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for the construction of regionally and nationally significant water infrastructure projects.
• Blocks the Biden administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) Rule, issued in January 2023, and defines the regulatory scope of the Clean Water Act from taking effect.
• Bars the use of funds the bill provides to implement, administer, apply, enforce, or carry out any plastic straw prohibitions.

These cuts and limits on potential agency rulemaking have prompted a White House veto threat. They will likely pose challenges in negotiations with the Senate, which approved its version of the Interior-Environment bill with a higher topline figure.

November 17 Government Shutdown Outpacing the House and Senate Appropriations’ Calendar…Again

The House is slowly inching through its annual appropriations bills with only eight days left before the current funding expires. Despite the bills having little chance of becoming law by the November 17 deadline, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) emphasized the House’s commitment to advancing all twelve individual spending bills.  The House has passed seven of its 12 bills. But the more contentious bills are still to come, and momentum may be slowing. House leaders suddenly postponed consideration of the Transportation-HUD bill (H.R. 4820) Nov. 7 and its Financial Services bill (H.R. 4664) Nov. 9 after needing more support to pass it.

The Senate has also only been making gradual progress. The upper chamber passed only three of its appropriations bills in a “minibus” package (HR 4366) last week (82-15) after being stalled for more than a  month due to disputes over votes on amendments.   Given the short time left and the need for a stopgap measure, it is unclear whether the Senate will attempt another “minibus.”

Speaker Johnson acknowledged the necessity of another stopgap spending bill to prevent a partial government shutdown after November 17. He has been considering various options, one of which he calls a “laddered” continuing resolution (CR), but the proposal saw waning support among his Republican colleagues.   He has also proposed extending agency budget authority through Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 15, 2024, to avoid complications around the holiday season.  In the Senate, appropriators are looking at different options, including a CR through the week of December 11th.

While the timing of the vote on the stopgap bill hasn’t been specified, Johnson and House GOP leaders intend to attach conditions that may raise objections from Democrats. Johnson noted that there will be substantial weekend work on the stopgap bill.

Farm Bill Date Slides Until December

House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson (R-PA) announced the House won’t bring the farm bill up in December, a significant change in plans regarding the expired bill’s progression through the House. Thompson was initially hopeful for a December vote but cited multiple factors contributing to this delay, including challenges related to budget scoring from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a congested legislative schedule in December, and ongoing disputes over specific programs covered by the bill.

The 2018 farm bill expired on September 30, with several critical farm safety net programs set to expire on January 1, potentially causing severe consequences.  Thompson said on Nov. 8 that committee leaders are working on a “clean extension” of the 2018 farm bill that would go through the end of FY24, keeping crucial farm bill programs funded until a new bill can be passed.

However, negotiations on this extension, including funding for certain programs referred to as “orphan programs,” remain ongoing. Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow said she intends to extend the farm bill in its entirety, emphasizing the inclusion of funding for as many orphan programs as possible. Lawmakers are also exploring spending offsets to cover any new funding for these programs. Thompson has posed the question of whether funding for these orphan programs should be secured or used as leverage to facilitate progress on the farm bill.

Members Question the Biden Administration’s Use of Water Infrastructure Funding and LSL Allocations

The Senate Environment and Public Committee on Nov. 8 held a hearing on small, rural, disadvantaged, and underserved communities’ access to clean water.  The hearing focused on the oversight of the implementation of clean water investments for these communities under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).  The IIJA authorized $55 billion in funding for a range of water infrastructure programs, including targeted grants for small and disadvantaged communities, lead service line (LSL) replacement support for innovative water technologies, and money for wastewater treatment and stormwater management.  Despite these significant funding opportunities, many rural, small, and disadvantaged communities still need to grapple with aging infrastructure that needs repair or replacement.

Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) expressed her concerns that EPA is overstepping its statutory authority to use these funds to affect administration policy priorities that Congress did not approve under the Clean Water Act or the IIJA. She also criticizes the inconsistent application of “Buy America” waivers, causing project delays.  Noting that the entire committee has concerns about disadvantaged communities receiving the funding, Capito questioned the administration’s vague regulatory guidance on environmental justice state formula grants, saying it appears to be an effort by the EPA to limit the state’s statutory authorities under the Clean Water Act.

Recently, some Members have voiced concern over the changes in state funding allocations for the LSL replacement projects under the IIJA between fiscal years 2022 and 2023. There are also questions about the accuracy of the LSL data and estimates used to determine these state funding allocations. For instance, it’s unclear whether some states have enough eligible projects to utilize their funding allocations fully. Conversely, there are concerns that some states’ total number of LSL replacement projects may exceed their allocated funds.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) shared his concerns that the (LSL) formula is disadvantaging Massachusetts and wanted to know what more the government can do to advance led-free pipe replacement.

The hearing comes amid a series of Biden administration announcements on new partnerships expanding community access funds for lead service line removal and replacement.  On Nov. 2, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox announced a partnership with the State of Wisconsin to assist 10 communities in accelerating progress toward lead service line identification and replacement and, on Nov. 6, named 10 New Jersey communities that will receive the same. Also, the administration approved a $336 million loan to Chicago to help remove 30,000 pipes across the city.

Senate Hearing Examines Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics

A Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight held a hearing on October 26 entitled “Evaluating Material Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics.”  The hearing came just one day after the subcommittee Chairman Jeff Merkley (D-OR) reintroduced his controversial Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

Chairman Merkley emphasized the need to replace single-use plastic packaging with novel alternative solutions composed of eco-friendly bioplastics.  He stressed, however, that although exciting alternative solutions to single-use plastics continue to be developed, consumers require more information regarding what is genuinely recyclable or compostable, as the current guidelines for recycling single-use plastics are often confusing and require standardization.

Ranking Member Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) stated that single-use plastics can contribute to a multitude of waste issues if improperly managed.  However, he emphasized that certain types of single-use plastics, such as Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) blood bags, provide invaluable use and affordability to modern healthcare and other aspects of daily life.  He stressed that any broad restrictions on similar products would harm everyday lives and severely harm multiple industries and markets.  He directed lawmakers to leverage market solutions rather than government regulation to incentivize recycling standardization and novel plastic alternative development.  He reiterated that innovation, not misguided regulation, is the correct way to confront the plastic waste crisis.

While Senators from both sides of the aisle acknowledged the need to reduce plastic pollution, Democrats also want to reduce the production of plastics (and the chemicals that go into making them) in the United States. This of course would require the demand for the material need to be met by countries in Asia and other places that have much less environmental and worker safety protocols. .

The hearing featured testimony from a variety of experts, including Marcus Eriksen, the head of the marine plastic-oriented environmental group 5 Gyres; Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business for the World Wildlife Fund; and Humberto Kravetz, CEO of GSF UpCycling which a Spanish chemical recycling company.

The witnesses discussed the challenges of recycling plastic and the need for more sustainable alternatives. Eriksen said that “we urgently need smart policies” to address the problem of plastic pollution. He pointed to the success of businesses that reuse and refill products while advocating that biomaterials are “functional alternatives to some kinds of packaging.”

Ms. Simon urged a shift away from fossil-based polymers but warned that “all material choices have environmental impacts” and that it is critical to weigh all impacts when choosing alternatives to plastic carefully. She urged the committee to consider policy options such as extended producer responsibility and national bottle bills as tools to reduce demand for virgin plastics.  Simon also emphasized that “innovation is not going to happen just in the technologies and the materials; it’s going to be the systems to manage them.”

Kravetz said that his company, GSF UpCycling, is developing a technology that can recycle waste plastics into oil that can then be remade into new plastics, reducing the demand for virgin fossil plastic.  Ravetz fielded several questions regarding the technology’s role in helping recycle in rural areas.

Merkley closed the hearing reiterating Ms. Simon’s point that “there is nothing that doesn’t have an impact,” adding that the overall policy goal should be to move toward technologies with the minimum environmental impact.