Outrage after US Congress votes to slash $125m in funding to replace toxic lead pipes | US Congress
There is anger among some politicians and activists after the US Congress voted to cut $125 million to replace toxic lead drinking water pipes that pose a particular threat to children.
The move would hit hardest in Michigan, Illinois, Texas, New York and other states with the highest levels of lead pipes. The cut was part of a wider government funding bill and was specifically controversial In the context of the fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding.
Lead pipe replacement funding was approved with bipartisan support in 2021, but Republican leadership on the interior, environment and related agencies committee, which controls the appropriations, redirected it for wildfire prevention over the objections of many Democrats.
As millions of people in the United States continue to drink dangerous lead-contaminated water, many US states have called for more federal funding. Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib told the Guardian that financial resources were “urgently needed to get the job done.” Tlaib’s district in and around Detroit is among the highest-level lead lines.
“Our work to rapidly replace every major service line in America is reaching a critical moment, and it is an affront to every one of our communities struggling for access to clean water,” said Tlaib, who chairs the Congressional Get the Lead Out caucus.
Republican internal committee leadership did not respond to requests for comment.
Lead is considered among the planet’s most toxic substances, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said that no level of lead exposure is safe. The agency found that the drug lowered IQ scores in children, stunted their development, and increased blood pressure in adults.
The EPA estimates that removing the lines would prevent as many as 900,000 babies from having low birth weight, save about 200,000 IQ points in children, and prevent as many as 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.
The outage marks the latest twist in what public health advocates see as a cataclysmic battle to replace the nation’s lead water lines. Advocates say this should be an issue with broad bipartisan support and funding without a fight.
Joe Biden’s EPA implemented a rule in 2024 requiring all cable lines to be replaced within 10 years. But Republicans have repeatedly tried to sabotage mainline renewal efforts in recent years, in part because of pressure from an unlikely but powerful opponent: water companies unwilling to make infrastructure improvements.
Removing lines is a challenge because there are so many lines left. EPA in 2024 estimated As many as 9 million lead lines need to be replaced, even though Donald Trump’s EPA made a controversial change last year. I lowered the number After changing the methodology, it increased to 4 meters.
The $125 million Congress cut is part of the $15 billion earmarked for major service line replacement in 2021 in the Biden-backed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The law required the government to provide states with $3 billion a year for five years to replace lead service lines, the pipes that carry water to homes and businesses. Trump EPA announced 2025 funding late, with the final $3 billion tranche to be distributed this year.
“For $125 million you can replace a lot of lead pipes,” said Erik Olson, a senior advisor at the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. He called the cut “penny money and pound stupid” because many studies have proven that to create that the upfront investment in replacing pipes is significantly less costly than paying for the health impacts on the back end.
An earlier draft of the bill had suggested cutting $250 million, but House Democrats led by Tlaib and Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingell pushed back. letter Signed by 43 other members of Congress, Senate leaders managed to save half of it.
The problem is most severe in Chicago, where crews replaced less than 4% of the city’s nearly 400,000 main service lines. Renewing the remaining lines will cost approximately $3 billion.
Democratic Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth in question It was “obscene” for the Trump administration to cut funding for clean drinking water projects while increasing funding for ICE, which conducts violent operations in Chicago.
While the $125 million represents only a small portion of the upcoming $3 billion tranche, Olson noted that the GOP has made other cuts to water infrastructure and that the Trump administration has proposed a 90% cut to safe drinking water funding. The fight is not over yet.
“We’re concerned about the signal this sends — that lead pipes are not a high priority, and once you start getting money back, that doesn’t bode well for future financing,” Olson said.
