Bipartisan Congressional Moderates Group Reports on Infrastructure

The House Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of around 50 self-styled Congressional moderates, is “committed to bringing Members together across party lines and finding areas of agreement on key issues…”  In January, the Caucus issued a report titled Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure.  The report looks at a host of infrastructure needs and offers a range of suggested solutions.

For water and wastewater needs, the report notes that, “Years of underfunding, underpricing of water and sanitary services, and increased federal regulatory mandates with declining financial support have led to the current state of aged and overburdened water and wastewater systems across our country.”  Among the suggested solutions are calls for:

• increased funding to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds
• direction to GAO to complete a 50-state review of state regulations and requirements pertaining to SRF funding to determine best practices in an effort to reduce duplicative requirements and streamline the application process for localities
• examination of the growing threat posed by harmful algal blooms and strengthen Federal efforts to research, prevent, and mitigate them while increasing resources to protect and update threatened water systems

Apart from the report, the Caucus, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, is also working to connect with moderates in the Senate to further advance legislative solutions for national problems such as infrastructure needs.