119th Congress Gets Underway with Plans for Spending, Tax Policy, and Confirmation Hearings
Date: January 12, 2025
On January 3, new and returning Members of Congress descended on Washington DC to begin the 119th Congress. The first...
119th Congress Gets Underway with Plans for Spending, Tax Policy, and Confirmation Hearings
Date: January 12, 2025
On January 3, new and returning Members of Congress descended on Washington DC to begin the 119th Congress. The first order of business for the House of Representatives was to elect a Speaker. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was reelected to the position by a party-line vote of 218–215. House Democrats and both parties in the Senate elected their leaders prior to the holidays.
The following post outlines upcoming congressional activities, including key actions related to the federal budget, tax policy, annual appropriations, and confirmation hearings for President-Elect Trump’s Cabinet nominations. In addition to reading below, you can learn more about these topics by joining our upcoming 2025 Water Reuse Policy Outlook Webcast at 2:00 PM Eastern Time on January 16. Register here.
Looking Forward to Reconciliation and Appropriations
Since returning from the holidays, the House, Senate, and incoming Administration have been hard at work mapping out a legislative strategy for the coming months. Heading into Spring 2025, Congress faces a complex fiscal policy landscape involving the need to renew or extend discretionary spending by March 14, the expiration of the debt limit suspension in the late spring (the U.S. Treasury will begin using “extraordinary measures” this month to prevent a default), and the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 at the end of the year.
Annual Appropriations
WateReuse has been working to shape FY 2025 appropriations legislation since early last year. Congress passed a series of funding extensions beginning in September 2024 and must pass either another extension or a full funding package by March 14. We will continue to advocate for robust funding for key water recycling programs such as the Title XVI Water Reuse Grants Program, Pilot Program for Alternative Water Source Grants, State Revolving Fund Programs, and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program. To complicate matters further, the FY 2026 appropriations cycle will begin next month when congressional offices begin to collect appropriations requests from stakeholders and constituents.
Budget Reconciliation
In addition to passing appropriations legislation, Congress must also chart a path for suspending the debt limit and passing a major tax policy package. For the past year, WateReuse has been advocating for a federal investment tax credit to support the use of recycled water by manufacturers, data centers, and other industrial operators. As Congress’ plan for tax policy becomes clearer in the weeks ahead, we will work closely with the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and congressional champions to secure the tax credit as part of this year’s larger tax policy package.
In recent days, the debate on Capitol Hill and between the White House and Congress has revolved around whether to use one or multiple budget reconciliation vehicles to address the debt limit, pass a tax package, and advance other policy priorities. As a reminder, budget reconciliation is a process by which Congress can pass legislation with a simple majority vote, rather than needing to reach a 60-vote threshold in the Senate. The House and Senate Budget Committees issue reconciliation “instructions” to authorizing committees (e.g. the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the House Ways & Means Committee, etc.), which then write individual bills to meet the spending targets delineated by the Budget Committees. While the Budget Committees set those targets, decisions regarding how to reach the targets are left to the authorizing committees. The individual bills are then delivered back to the Budget Committees before being combined into a single reconciliation package.
We anticipate that Congress will pass a budget resolution sometime in the late winter or early Spring to initiate the first budget reconciliation process. The first set of reconciliation instructions may address tax policy as well as the debt limit, given the need to address the latter by late Spring and Republican leadership’s desire to pass a tax package in the same timeframe. Alternatively, Congress may choose to address the debt limit in a bipartisan way, passing a suspension through normal order. Doing so, however, would require the Majority to forego making significant spending cuts, which it typically attempts to do when suspending the debt limit.
House and Senate Committee Assignments
In addition to electing party leaders and swearing in newly elected Members of Congress, congressional leadership announced a series of new appointments to key House and Senate committees.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Senators John Curtis (R-UT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) were all appointed to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Leaders have yet to announce appointments to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Water Subcommittee. Importantly, former Ranking Member Grace Napolitano (D-CA) retired from Congress at the end of the 118th Congress.
Senate Finance Committee and House Ways & Means Committee
Incumbent senators Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Peter Welch (D-VT) will join the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy and will work to craft this year’s tax policy package.
Representatives Aaron Bean (R-FL), Max Miller (R-OH), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) will join the House Ways and Means Committee.
Senate and House Natural Resource Committees
Freshman senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Jim Justice (R-WV) and Dave McCormack (R-PA) will join the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Bureau of Reclamation. As we previously reported, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) will take over as Chair of the Committee, as Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) moves into a more senior leadership position within the party. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) will take over the Ranking Member position from recently retired Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY) will take over as Chair of the House’s Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries, which has jurisdiction of the Bureau of Reclamation. Republican Cliff Bentz of Oregon chaired the Subcommittee in the 118th Congress. Former Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-CA) assumed the role of Chair of the full Natural Resources Committee, leaving open the position of Subcommittee Ranking Member. The new Ranking Member and other members of the Subcommittee will be announced in the coming days.
Other committee assignments, including subcommittee rosters for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, have not yet been announced.
Confirmation Hearings
Congress has announced confirmation hearings for several of President-Elect Trump’s Cabinet nominations, each of which oversees policy and programs that impact water recycling.
On January 14, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Doug Burgum to be U.S. Secretary of Interior. Burgum is the former Governor of North Dakota.
On January 16, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Lee Zeldin to be Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin previously represented part of Long Island, New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Also on January 16, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
Join the WateReuse Association’s Upcoming Webcast to Learn More
To learn more about the legislative and regulatory policy landscape and what to expect in 2025, join us at 2:00 PM Eastern Time on January 16 for our 2025 Water Reuse Policy Outlook. Top Washington lobbyists will discuss what a second-term Trump Administration and unified control of the Federal Government means for key water reuse-related policies and programs. Whether you plan to participate in the 2025 Water Week Policy Fly-In or are interested in learning more about policy making under single-party control, this webcast will help get you up to speed.
You can register for the webcast here.