FEDERAL FUNDING
Since the SRFs were established, Congress has provided annual federal funding in the form a capitalization grant to provide subsidized loans to build water infrastructure now and grow a permanent pool of revolving funds to meet the never-ending need to repair, rehabilitate and modernize aging infrastructure in the future.
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Troubling Trend
Over the last three years, Congress has diverted $3.73 billion in annual federal funding (45%) from fiscally responsible state-run loan programs for water infrastructure to create a massive new federal grant program for congressional earmarks at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Most states are losing federal funding for water infrastructure because congressional earmarks don’t offset cuts to annual federal funding for the SRFs. Since earmarks returned in 2022, 33 states have experienced a net loss in annual federal funding (funding for SRFs plus congressional earmarks). ​
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Troubling Trend Continues with 2025 Appropriations
The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate advance appropriations bills that cut and divert annual federal funding from the fiscally responsible state-run SRF loan programs to grow a massive new and unsustainable federal grant program in EPA.
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2024 Appropriations​
​Congress maintained topline annual federal funding for the SRF capitalization grants for fiscal year 2024 but diverted more than half of federal funding - $1.419 billion - from SRFs in 40 states to pay for congressional earmarks 10 states.​
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Closing the Gap Between Authorizations and Appropriations
Despite skyrocketing costs from historic inflation, Congress hasn't increased annual federal funding for the SRFs for the last seven years. Below are estimated allotments to states if Congress funded the SRFs to congressional authorizations of $3.25 billion, each, for fiscal year 2025.
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