By Steven Allen Adams, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While negotiations continue between U.S. Senate Republicans, Democrats, and the White House on an infrastructure package, lawmakers got a head start on a key drinking water and wastewater package that could bode well for future discussions.
U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced the passage Thursday of S.914, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021. The bill passed 89-2, with only Republican U.S. Senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, voting against it.
The bill was a project of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where Capito is the ranking Republican members. The bill had early bipartisan support in committee, with Capito co-writing the bill with Senators Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Tom Carper, D-Del., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
“Yes, we’ve worked together bipartisan,” Capito said in a Thursday afternoon virtual briefing with press. “We’ve worked on programs that will help West Virginia’s smaller (water) systems, septic tanks, water workforce, things I hear all the time when I’m in West Virginia that are real challenges to small water systems.” …
