Congressional leaders and the White House managed to avoid economic disaster a couple of weeks back by passing legislation to suspend the debt ceiling, thus avoiding a first-ever U.S. government default. But fallout from the deal could lead either to sharp cuts in federal programs or a government shutdown this fall.
Although the debt ceiling bill passed both chambers of Congress on strong bipartisan votes, members of the House Freedom Caucus – ultra-conservative Republicans – were incensed that the bill did not cut government spending nearly as much as they’d like. Feeling that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hadn’t negotiated strongly enough, several Freedom Caucus members exacted their revenge by blocking the House from taking up GOP-backed legislation two weeks ago. With the rebellion preventing House GOP leadership from moving any bills forward, Speaker McCarthy had no choice but to send lawmakers home early.
Last week, the logjam broke, at least temporarily, as House Republicans agreed to push forward deeper spending cuts than were agreed to in the debt ceiling deal. While the debt deal envisioned a freeze on spending levels for the new fiscal year that begins in October, the House Appropriations Committee late last week approved spending levels that are in total eight percent lower than the current fiscal year – including a whopping 35 percent cut for the Department of the Interior and related agencies.
If the House succeeds in passing the funding bills at these lower levels, it will set up a showdown with the Senate, where the Democratic majority will insist on keeping to the spending freeze agreed to in the debt deal. With conservative Republicans likely to hold Speaker McCarthy’s feet to the fire on the lower levels and Democrats in the Senate (as well as President Biden) demanding Congress abide by the debt agreement, the odds of a government shutdown come October 1 have increased sizably.
Even if cooler heads prevail, the House Appropriations Committee’s moves make it more likely that federal programs will see cuts in the next fiscal year. That includes the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), which has seen increased levels over recent years due to the advocacy work of ACRA and the preservation community. Lower levels for the HPF mean less support for state and Tribal historic preservation offices, which are facing increased workloads from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, both of which funded large numbers of infrastructure projects. That’s why ACRA and the broader preservation community are continuing to press Congress to provide sufficient funding to the HPF to ensure Section 106 reviews move forward in a timely manner.
ACHP Asks for Feedback on Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is requesting public feedback regarding application and interpretation of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
The Standards (36 C.F.R. Part 68) provide guidance that is central to the implementation of federal, state, and local historic preservation laws. The application and interpretation of the Secretary’s Standards and associated guidelines significantly affect public and private projects involving historic properties, influence strategies and techniques people choose to deploy, change costs associated with addressing historic property issues, and shape distributional equity. In some cases, the Secretary’s Standards may affect the ability to address the pressing challenge of climate change both through and on behalf of historic properties.
Additional information about ACHP’s request is available here, including questions of special interest to the ACHP. Comments must be submitted in writing by 5 p.m. on July 20, 2023, by emailing mailto:dnull@achp.gov.
The ACRA Government Relations Committee is reviewing the ACHP’s request. If you have feedback for the Committee about how ACRA should respond, please email Amanda Stratton by July 13, 2023.
In Other News
Chaco Protections. The Interior Department has announced that it will no longer issue new oil and gas drilling leases in the Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico. The move, which supports the Biden administration’s goal to conserve at least 30% of federal lands and waters by 2030, applies to federal lands within 10 miles of the region for the next 20 years, subject to valid existing rights, and responds to decades of efforts from Tribes, elected officials, and the public to better protect the sacred and historic sites and Tribal communities currently living in northwest New Mexico.
According to the Department, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the surrounding desert landscape “contain rich archaeological resources and irreplaceable cultural sites where Pueblo and Tribal Nations continue to honor their ancestral traditions and customs. The area continues to be home to Tribal communities today. Structures in the Chacoan landscape date back thousands of years (approximately 850 to 1250) to when the area flourished as a social and religious center for the Chacoan peoples.”
Renewable Projects on Federal Lands. The Interior Department has proposed formalizing an 80% cut in renewable energy project fees on federal lands. The move, which deepens lowered rent fees and lease rates from an earlier 50% discount, would make the regulations more difficult to reverse in the future.
The Energy Act of 2020 authorized the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reduce acreage rents and capacity fees to promote wind and solar development. The BLM initially reduced these fees through guidance in 2022; their new proposed rule would codify further reductions, which they say will improve financial predictability for developers pursuing long-term projects on public land.