News

President’s FY12 Budget Request Slashes Funding for SRFs and Rural Water Programs

President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget request makes good on the administration’s pledge to cut spending levels. Under the president’s plan, FY12 funding for the CWSRF would be $1.55B, the DWSRF would be $990M, and the RUS Rural Water and Waste Program would be $411M. This represents cuts of $550M (26.2 percent), $390M (28.3 percent) and $150M (27.7 percent) respectively from the FY10 spending levels (FY11 did not have a full-year appropriations bill to compare to). The total cut to the water construction program would be 27.4 percent. It is important to note that the president’s budget request is not binding in any way; it is the Administration’s recommendation to Congress. The water funding picture for FY12 ultimately depends on what the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate agree on for the actual FY12 appropriations bills. In an effort to establish opposition to these funding cuts early on, AGC and several other water industry stakeholders sent a letter to Congress asking for support for the President’s FY11 Budget Request ($3.3B combined for the SRFs) in lieu of the FY12 cuts. AGC will continue to monitor the development of water infrastructure funding and fight against cuts to the program. For more information, contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org.