On Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson released a resolution to fund the federal government through September 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. The proposal is not a “clean” continuing resolution: It increases funding for deportations and defense while cutting funding for clean water programs, among other programs. 

Notably, Johnson’s spending measure eliminates Congressionally-directed spending for clean water projects. It zeros out the $1.4 billion in earmarked funding through the EPA’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, and $117 million through USDA’s Rural Water and Waste Disposal assistance program. The overall funding levels for the SRF programs appear unaffected, but the rural water program is reduced by the amount of the earmarked projects, amounting to a 20 percent cut in funding for rural water and wastewater projects. 

The proposal would cut USDA’s Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations by 58 percent by zeroing out $20 million in earmarked projects, and it eliminates $39 million in EPA’s State and Tribal Assistance Grants that were previously earmarked for remediation and environmental management activities. It would also cut USDA’s Conservation by $19 million and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) by $14 million. 

In response, Food & Water Watch Water Program Director Mary Grant issued the following statement:

“Every well-meaning Congress member should vote no on this disastrous spending bill that slashes critical clean water and agriculture conservation programs. This harm will be felt by all Americans, but rural Americans in particular. Overall, this spending bill fails to address Trump and Musk’s illegal gutting of the federal government and its agencies. Instead, it functions as a greenlight for the dismantling, looting and fleecing of our democracy. Congress must reject this resolution out of hand.”