For the second year in a row, NASSCO’s 2021 Annual Washington, D.C., Fly-In was virtual.

Held over several days, from Dec. 6-17, the 29 meetings included NASSCO members from 15 different states with the following Members of Congress:

• Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee

• Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana), member of the Senate Finance Committee

• Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana), member of the House Ways & Means Committee

• Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Indiana),

Of the 29 meetings, 22 were with congressional offices that NASSCO has never met with before, or new congressional staffers who were learning about NASSCO’s policy recommendations (see below) to Congress for the first time. Additionally, the NASSCO members and staff met with some of the most important congressional offices, including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Washington), Senate Republican Policy Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Senate Democratic Conference Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Senate Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Maryland).

The goal of these meetings was to inform and educate members of Congress on the need to fund underground infrastructure and share NASSCO’s 2021 Policy Recommendations:

• Provide in the FY22 Omnibus bill the fully authorized funding levels from the recently passed infrastructure package for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund ($2.4B in FY22), EPA Sewer Overflow & Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants ($280M in FY22), Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act ($50M in FY22) and Connection to Publicly Owned Treatment Works Grants ($40M in FY22).

• Fund the EPA Section 106, Section 319, and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the highest possible levels in FY22.

• Request the GOA to complete a report to Congress on the state of the nation’s wastewater and stormwater collections and conveyance infrastructure.

• Require recipients of federal water infrastructure funding to have an asset management plan developed by certified inspectors using a standardized infrastructure assessment method.

The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure package, that passed Congress in November 2021 includes authorization for over $29 billion in wastewater and stormwater infrastructure funding. Of that amount, $12.7 billion is guaranteed, with the remaining amount needing to be included in the annual appropriations bills over the next five years. 

It is critical for NASSCO and its members to continue to be a strong voice for increased funding for buried water infrastructure. In addition to the Fly-In, in 2021 NASSCO’s members used the “Sewer System Heroes” grassroots advocacy webpage to send over 576 letters to Congress calling for increased funding for water infrastructure.

Whether you are a NASSCO member or not, we invite you to call upon your members of Congress by using NASSCO’s simple tool. Just text “PIPE” to 25994 or visit www.nassco.org/advocacy/government-relations to participate and for more information.