Home Government President’s Budget Not Adequate for 21st Century American Water Systems

President’s Budget Not Adequate for 21st Century American Water Systems

New York – February 10, 2016 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Paul Tonko (NY-20) today reacted to President Barack Obama’s final budget request of his administration with praise for support of several priorities rarely in the national discussion – but also with disappointment and urgency for Obama to press Congress for higher, more ambitious and realistic funding levels for our nation’s failing water infrastructure.

“Many of our pipes in the Capital Region are older than twelve U.S. states. Respectfully, the President’s request falls short when it comes to the real amount of investment we can and are required to make in our failing water infrastructure. What’s more concerning, is that Congress’ commitment to fixing these problems is even lower. If we want to avoid regular and repeated instances like what happened in Troy, Hoosick Falls, or — worse yet – Flint, Michigan, we need to get real about the funding levels that are needed to bring our water infrastructure into the 21st century,” said Tonko.

As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy, which has jurisdiction over the Safe Drinking Water Act, Tonko has pledged to continue to prioritize federal funding and support for our nation’s aging and broken drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the coming year.

“President Obama has always shown ambition when it comes to what made our nation great – an investment in education, R&D, innovation, and our nation’s middle-class workforce,” continued Tonko. “I appreciate that same increased focus on mental health, substance abuse, and initiatives that will protect our environment while giving private businesses the tools they need to tap into emerging clean energy markets and create jobs locally.”

Tonko noted the following proposals in the President’s budget request he believes Congress should prioritize:

• Opioid abuse: The President recommends investing more than $1.1 billion in new funding over the next two years to address the growing opioid epidemic by expanding access to treatment and supporting prevention efforts. Rep. Tonko recently penned an op-ed on the need to address opioid addiction and is the Vice co-chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus.

• Mental Health: As an author of the law that brought mental health parity to New York and a leader on the issue in the House of Representatives, Tonko supports Obama’s mental health funding proposal for $500 million toward increasing access to early intervention programs and engaging individuals with serious mental illness in care.

• Clean Energy: The President’s final budget supports $7.7 billion for clean energy research and development across 12 agencies. Tonko has long supported combining efforts at job creation and existing strategies to green our environment and invest in clean energy.

• Keeping Warm in the Winter: Included in the overall budget proposal is $326 million to promote weatherization assistance for low-income households and support for state energy programs.

The President’s request begins the annual budgeting process, and is a set of suggestions from the White House and Office of Management and Budget that reflect levels at which the executive branch believes departments, agencies, and programs should be funded. The President’s submission is then referred to the House and Senate Budget committees.

There is no obligation for Congress to use the White House’s request as a guideline. In fact, this year Congress broke with a 41-year-old tradition as the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees announced they would not give the president’s budget director the usual hearings to consider the request.