San Diego’s congressional delegation announced Tuesday it had secured the remaining funding needed to upgrade the long-neglected federal wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border that has allowed sewage from Tijuana to pollute South County shorelines. But the stopgap spending bill that would provide the $250 million to complete the critical repairs was scrapped late Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump and others urged the House of Representatives to reject the deal, putting the fate of the plant funding in limbo. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Scott Peters led the lobbying effort to secure the funds for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, which needs a total of $600 million to rehabilitate and expand the plant’s capacity. The sum does not include costs to operate and maintain the infrastructure. Amid news of opposition from the incoming administration, a spokesperson for Peters said via email that while the situation was fluid, there was “a lot of concern” regarding the spending bill’s certainty. Padilla’s office said it was remaining hopeful the bill would still pass by this weekend. In a statement Wednesday, Vice President-elect JD Vance said Republicans support money for disaster relief, which includes the $250 million for the South Bay plant, but added that a streamlined bill “that doesn’t give the Democrats everything they want” should be passed. The South Bay facility has long been underfunded and undermaintained. It repeatedly takes in more sewage from Tijuana than it was designed to treat, which has left the agency with multiple Clean Water Act violations for releasing wastewater into the Pacific Ocean beyond what it is permitted. Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner, head of the U.S. IBWC, has said that equipment failure — due to uncontrollable, record-breaking flows of sewage and sediment — and political challenges have compromised repair efforts. But thanks to more than $100 million Congress secured for the IBWC earlier this year and $300 million in 2020, the agency broke ground on the project to fix and upgrade the broken plant. Still, the federal agency said it needs an additional $250 million to complete the job. “This critical investment is needed to fully fund the plant’s rehabilitation and expansion project,” Rep. Juan Vargas said in a statement Tuesday before the bill was withdrawn. “Toxic sewage pollution in the Tijuana River has hurt our health, our environment, and our economy for too long. It’s unacceptable and our communities need relief.” Last year, sewage and unmanaged storm water from Tijuana into the U.S. exceeded 44 billion gallons, the most on record in the last quarter-century. And over the last five years, more than 100 billion gallons reached south San Diego County shorelines, resulting in beach closures, reported illnesses and economic downturns. Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and community advocates spent Wednesday at the White House and the Capitol urging the Biden administration to declare the sewage crisis an emergency in its final days. They planned to deliver more than 7,400 signatures petitioning the proclamation. “Already, the bacteria and stench from toxic contamination in neighborhoods next to the Tijuana River and on the coastline is making people sick, making homes unlivable and stopping everyone from kids to Navy SEALS from using the beach,” read a statement from the group. “President Biden has until his last day in office, Jan. 19th, to take action on this problem with an emergency declaration and set the stage for further action by the Trump Administration.”