Extending Wifia Loan Terms

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, recently I introduced a necessary amendment to the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA). This provision was included in my ``WIFIA Improvement Act of 2020'' (H.R. 8217) from last Congress. I thank my colleague Congressman Newhouse (R-WA) for his support as the original cosponsor this year.

Our bipartisan bill would allow local communities seeking to build water infrastructure projects to secure federally guaranteed financing under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WIFIA loan program with a 55-year repayment schedule rather than the current 35-year loan term. This change would unlock low-interest WIFIA financing for projects with longer lifecycles like the off-stream Sites Reservoir Project in my Congressional district and similar water storage projects.

For fiscal year 2021, Congress made more than $11.5 billion in federal WIFIA loans available. By making WIFIA loan terms more workable for projects with longer lifecycles, at no risk to the taxpayer, this bill will allow California and other western states to modernize water infrastructure and better meet future water supply needs.

Madam Speaker, I urge all members to cosponsor this bipartisan bill to unlock the federal financing necessary to construct the water infrastructure of the future. I plan to make this bipartisan bill a major priority in my work as a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, including in any WIFIA reauthorization. The current Congressional authorization for the WIFIA program expires at the end of fiscal year 2021.

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