Biden Administration Releases FY 2022 Budget Proposal by ACWA Staff Jun 3, 2021 Water News WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden Administration last week released its FY 2022 budget proposal. The $6 trillion dollar budget includes funding for several water resources priorities, including PFAS research and remediation, drought resilience, watershed protection, and infrastructure improvements. The Biden budget proposes an increase of 16.5% for discretionary, non-defense spending. Notably, the budget includes $27.9 billion for the Department of Agriculture (USDA), $17.4 billion for the Department of Interior (DOI), $6.8 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), and $11.2 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). More specifically, the proposal features notable increases in popular programs and accounts. Within EPA, the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds saw slight increases, in addition to a $15 million increase to the Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act program (WIFIA). At USDA, within the Forest Service, the National Forest System Hazardous Fuels program, Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration program, and Vegetation and Watershed Management program enjoy sizable budget increases of more than 75%. Impressively, the Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry Landscape Scale Restoration program includes a nearly doubled budget at $21 million. Turning to DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Biden budget proposes decreases for Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects, WaterSMART grants, and the Cooperative Watershed Management Program. However, the newly created Aging Infrastructure Account features a flatline budget at $1 million while the Dam Safety program includes a large increase to $207 million. Finally, moving to the Corps, an increase to the Operation and Maintenance Program budget to $4.29 billion offers a strong contrast to the decrease to the Construction Program budget of $1.88 billion. Next steps for the budget process include Congressional appropriations committees holding hearings, identification of topline numbers, negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans as well as the House and Senate, and agreement on a two-year budget spending deal before the FY 2021 appropriations expire in September. ACWA will be tracking the appropriations process closely over the next few months, advocating for increases in vital programs and accounts. For more information on the Biden Administration’s budget proposal and the appropriations process, please contact ACWA’s DC Office at jayt@acwa.com.