Florida Republicans continue to champion the environment as Rep. Michael Waltz (R) is making the push for an update to the federal clean water funding formula.
The freshman lawmaker called for an updated to the antiquated federal fund for water quality projects at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s hearing regarding the Water Resources Development Act.
He discussed what his proposal entailed, and he warned that the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has not been updated since 1987. This, he explained, is a problem because the sunshine state’s population has nearly doubled since then and the needs of Floridians have also changed.
In a statement, he detailed that “for the same reasons that it is good government to reauthorize programs that have not been authorized in three decades, it is good policy for Congress to review and modernize how those additional resources are disbursed to states.”
As well, Waltz noted that “it would be misguided policy to double the authorization level for a program without considering how and where those resources are disbursed.”
He asserted that “it’s time to update this formula.”
If the update is enacted, it would result in an increase of 300% in funding for states such as Florida.
