Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak in strong support of the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021. I want to thank Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Capito, full committee Chairman Carper, Chairman Duckworth, and their staffs for their hard work and cooperation on this bill. While many issues divide this Senate, clean water is not one of them. As ranking member of the Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee under which drinking water and wastewater jurisdiction lies, I am proud to see the work our committee has done to bring this bill to the floor today, and I especially want to thank Senator Duckworth for all of her efforts to serve our communities by shepherding this bill through the Senate. On May 17th, our committee and subcommittee held a hearing to examine the challenges facing drinking water and wastewater infrastructure throughout the Nation. We heard from witnesses that many obstacles remain in America's water quality. High among those obstacles is the lagging funding related to an aging infrastructure. The primary mechanism for financing water infrastructure is from State and local sources, including the collection of user fees, but funding has not kept pace with the growing need to address an aging system. Only 20 percent of very large utilities and 10 percent of small utilities report that they will be able to provide full-cost service in 5 years.…”