Changes the midterm election will bring to U.S. Congress

Article provided by www.wef.org.

Steve Dye is president of Nexus Government Relations and supports the Water Environment Federation’s (Alexandria, Va.) legislative efforts in Washington, D.C.

The 2014 midterm election will bring changes large and small, with the biggest change being U.S. Senate control by Republicans, who will appoint new committee chairs and set the legislative agenda. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will now be led by U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R‒Okla.). After an 8-year hiatus as chairman while Democrats controlled the Senate, Inhofe has overall seniority on the committee and reclaimed the chairmanship as the committee addresses major regulatory differences the Republicans have with the Obama administration.

In the House, Republicans gained 13 seats, increasing their majority to 242 to 174 over Democrats. Both U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D‒W.W.) and U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D‒N.Y.) lost their re-election bids, which vacate the ranking member seats for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee.

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D‒Ore.) is the new ranking member of the committee, and U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D‒Calif.) is expected to become the new ranking member of the Water Resource Subcommittee. There were no changes for Republican leadership of the full committee or subcommittee.

Agenda for bills and policies affecting water

Legislatively, Republicans will control the process in both congressional bodies and will likely push forward with several significant water-related bills and policies. WEF Government Affairs believes there will be legislative action to restrict the Obama administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, expected to be finalized in Spring 2015.

The annual appropriations bills also will be wholly written by the Republicans. WEF Government Affairs believes these bills likely will reflect the Republican agenda for spending and federal policies, such as possible additional spending cuts to EPA programs and restrictions on implementation of the WOTUS rule and amendments to the Clean Air Act.

Additionally, efforts to move tax reform legislation will likely begin again, which previously have raised concerns over possible changes to tax-exempt municipal bonds. A tax reform bill potentially will include lifting or removing the cap on private capital investments though private activity bonds.

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