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The new Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water at EPA, Nancy Stoner, before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment at a concerning EPA’s FY12 water program budget. Freshman Chairman of the Subcommittee Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) chose to focus his opening statement and questions on what he called “the proliferation of so-called ‘guidance’ coming out of EPA in an attempt to short-circuit the process for changing Agency policy without following a proper, transparent rulemaking process.” Chairman Gibbs took issue with EPA’s guidance documents having the force of de facto rules instead of advisory guidelines. While the Republicans’ focus remained on regulatory enforcement of the Clean Water Act, new Ranking Member Tim Bishop (D-NY) and panel Democrats took issue with the proposed cuts to State Revolving Fund appropriations, both in the and in the that recently passed the House to fund the rest of FY11. He was particularly worried about the impact the reduction of funds would have on the construction industry, citing the 22 percent unemployment rate the industry is currently facing. Despite the SRF programs being one of the largest budget line-items for the Office of Water, most of the questions in the hearing focused on the Clean Water Act permitting process and enforcement. Many on the Subcommittee took the time to vociferously oppose unfunded mandates without making the connection that �������ϲʿ���Ԥ�� has been bringing to the Hill – without federal financing assistance to help states and localities build and maintain water infrastructure, EPA’s water quality regulations for drinking water and wastewater become unfunded mandates. �������ϲʿ���Ԥ�� will continue to educate and inform Members of Congress about the impacts of funding cuts to the SRF programs. For more information, contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org.