Washington Fly-In Recap
On April 13th and 14th more than 130 AWWA members from 47 states blanketed Capitol Hill with the association's message that the nation must invest more in water infrastructure during the 15th annual AWWA Water Matters! Fly-In. Nebraska was represented by Milo Rust from Chadron, Chad Roberts from Norfolk, and me. We had meetings with all five congressional offices and we focused on infrastructure needs and the lead problem. We distributed two position papers at each meeting: One on lead and the other on funding for water infrastructure.
Our meetings went well and we were received positively by all of the offices. All of the offices seemed to be supportive of continuing to fund the SRF program and recognized the program's importance to Nebraska. Senator Fischer's office seemed especially well-versed about the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) and they are hoping to find uses for the money in Nebraska. Another highlight from the visit to Capitol Hill was that Congressman Adrian Smith attended our entire meeting at his office.
Here is a list of those we met at each office:
- Rep. Ashford: Chris Kelley, Legislative Director
- Rep. Fortenberry: Alan Feyerherm, Deputy Chief of Staff
- Rep. Smith: Congressman Adrian Smith and Matt Reynolds, Legislative Assistant
- Sen. Sasse: Joel Wellum, Senior Legislative Correspondent
- Sen. Fischer: Jessica Clowser, Legislative Aide
