Bills
| 3.23.22

Funding the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and Other Agencies for FY 2016 (H.R. 2822)

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What is H.R. 2822?

(Updated March 11, 2018)

This bill would authorize appropriations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior, among other agencies for fiscal year 2016. It authorizes a total of $30.17 billion in funding — a reduction of $246 million from the previous fiscal year, and $3 billion below the President’s budget request.


Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA would receive $7.4 billion in funding for fiscal year 2016, $718 million less (or 9 percent less) than what it received in the previous fiscal year. Regulatory programs would be cut by $69 million from fiscal year 2015, and funded $206 million below the President’s budget request. The EPA’s staffing levels would be limited to 15,000 workers, the agency’s lowest level since 1989.

This spending measure would also remove the EPA's power to  implementing certain new regulations like:

  • Restrictions on greenhouse gas from new and existing power plants;

  • Changes to the definition of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act, or “fill material”;

  • Duplicative financial assurance requirements;

  • Guidelines on the lead content of ammunition and fishing tackle.


Bureau of Land Management 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would get $1.1 billion in funding — up $30 million from the prior year. Funding that was set aside for sage grouse conservation would grow from $15 million to $45 million. Proposals to increase oil and gas inspection fees, and raise grazing fees assessed on ranchers using federal land would be blocked.


National Parks & Forests

The National Park Service (NPS) would be funded at $2.7 billion — an increase of $53 million from fiscal year 2015. Specifically, an extra $52 million of funding for park operations and maintenance would go to reducing the maintenance backlog at the NPS.

The U.S. Forest Service is would be funded with $5 billion — a $13 million cut from the prior year. More than half of that funding would go to wild land fire prevention and suppression. The Forest Service and BLM would be prohibited from issuing new closures of public lands to hunting and recreational shooting, except in cases of public safety.

At $1.4 billion for fiscal year 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) would lose $8 million in funding from the previous year. Funding would be prioritized for programs that:

  • Conserve the sage-grouse,
  • Reduce the delisting backlog for recovered species that were previously protected, 
  • Fight invasive species, 
  • Prevent illegal wildlife trafficking, 
  • And keep fish hatcheries open. 
Any rule making under the Endangered Species Act related to the sage grouse would be delayed for one year.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) would get the same amount of funding as the previous year — $1.05 billion. Funding would be prioritized for handling natural hazards, groundwater monitoring, mapping, and upkeep on the earthquake early warning system.

Appropriations for the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) would total $180 million — $30 million more than the previous year. $30 million of this funding would go to a program that accelerates the reclamation of abandoned mine lands to boost community redevelopment and economic growth. States would receive $58 million in grant funding from OSM. A proposal to hire federal regulators to duplicate state inspections would be blocked.


Other Programs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Education would receive $2.8 billion for operations — an increase of $165 million. The Indian Health Service would receive an additional $145 million from the previous year for a total funding level of $4.8 billion. This additional funding would go to staffing newly constructing health facilities, keeping pace with medical inflation, and investing in the operation, maintenance, and replacement of schools.

The Federal Payments to Local Communities (a.k.a. “Payments In Lieu of Taxes or PILT) program is used to compensate local governments for losses in property tax revenue due to nontaxable federal lands in their county. That program would receive $452 million for fiscal year 2016.

Argument in favor

This bill authorizes sensible funding levels for all the covered agencies, and allows the EPA to focus on enforcing existing regulations rather than creating new job-killing regulations.

Argument opposed

Cutting the EPA’s budget is an overtly political gesture that will only reduce its ability to create and enforce new regulations that otherwise would have improved air and water quality.

Impact

People affected by environmental regulations, or fishing, hunting, and land management regulations, or that participate in Native American programs; the EPA and agencies of the Department of the Interior, or Native American agencies; Congress.

Cost of H.R. 2822

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth:

The sponsor of this legislation, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), said that this legislation “represents difficult decisions to allocate resources to important federal programs, while operating under a tight budget caused by the Administration’s unwillingness to address our national debt.”

Rep. Calvert added that:

“the bill takes meaningful steps to shield our economy and defend American jobs from the executive overreach of EPA regulators, provides significant funding for our natural resources, and fulfills our commitment to the needs of Indian Country.”

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said this bill ”makes great strides to budget responsibly, investing in proven programs while making cutbacks where we can… EPA is one such agency that can certainly make do with less.”

Both the specific policies put forward in this legislation and its overall funding levels have come under fire from the White House and congressional Democrats. Through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the White House criticized the proposed funding levels as “inadequate.” It also blasted policies that would make climate change and carbon pollution “more difficult and costly to address in the future, with negative consequences for the environment, the economy, and national security.”

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) went even further in criticizing this legislation, saying that “the air every American breathes, the water every American drinks, are all at risk because of the funding cuts and policy attacks in this bill.”

This bill was passed by the House Appropriations Committee on a vote of 30 to 21.


The Smithsonian Institution would receive the same amount of appropriations that it got in the previous fiscal year, totalling $820 million. The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities would receive $146 million for each endowment (totalling $292 million), which is the same funding level as the prior year. No funding would be provided to the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and before construction can begin funds must be appropriated, but the commission’s authority to build on its present site would be extended.

WIldland firefighting and prevention would receive $3.6 billion for fiscal year 2016, which is $52 million more than the previous year.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user BLMOregon)