With their Fourth of July recess behind them, members of Congress returned to Washington last week with a long to-do list, but also some skepticism about whether they will be able to get much done.
As the clock ticks towards the end of the fiscal year, both chambers are ramping up efforts to pass the 12 appropriations bills that provide annual funding to federal agencies. As previously reported in ACRASphere, disagreements between the Democratic-controlled Senate and GOP-led House over spending levels could threaten a government shutdown when the current funding expires on September 30.
In the House, the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee released its plan for funding the Interior Department in the next fiscal year. The Subcommittee would provide $14.3 billion to the Department, which is $677 million below what it receives in the current year and $3.4 billion below President Biden’s budget proposal.
Each agency in Interior would see similar reductions in spending under the House plan:
- The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would see an 18 percent cut from the current fiscal year.
- The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would both see a 13 percent cut.
- The U.S. Geological Survey would see its budget reduced by 10 percent.
- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management would see a 5 percent cut.
The one exception is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, whose budget the House bill would increase by nearly 6 percent.
Meanwhile, the bill would provide $175.4 million for the Historic Preservation Fund, which is significantly less than the $204.5 million Congress provided for the current fiscal year. However, that number may be a little misleading, as nearly $29 million of the current year’s funding was in the form of congressionally directed earmarks towards specific projects requested by members of Congress. This year, the House did not include any earmarks for projects under the Interior Department, but the Senate is planning to. If Senate-approved earmarks are added to the House’s allocation to the Fund, the resulting total could be closer to the current year’s spending. Either way, ACRA will continue to press both chambers to ensure adequate funding for the HPF.
The House is hoping to pass the Interior appropriations bill – along with other appropriations bills – before it leaves town for the August recess. This will set up a clash in the fall with the Senate, where the Appropriations Committee is likely to propose higher funding levels. If Congress and the White House cannot agree on numbers by Sept. 30, Congress will need to pass a short-term funding bill – or risk forcing the government to shut down.
In other news:
- Mountain Valley Pipeline construction will come to a halt in a national forest while a federal appeals court reviews a challenge from environmental groups. A panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is set to review the Interior Department’s earlier record of decision, which allowed for construction to start in the Jefferson National Forest. The debt ceiling agreement passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden last spring cleared the way for the Pipeline – a top priority for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) – to move forward.
- The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has paused a legal battle over the Biden administration’s Waters of the United States rule. The halt gives the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers a chance to rework the rule after the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA ruling in May, which scaled back federal water protections.
Permitting reform will be a focus of the Senate ahead of the August recess, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said last week. Sen. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said he intends to hold a permitting reform hearing sometime this month.