The slow-moving fiscal 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations process is kicking into overdrive this week with three markups on the congressional schedule. Both the Senate and the House will be making up their versions of the bill, which sets funding levels for the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other related agencies.
The Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will get things going bright and early Tuesday with a 9:30 a.m. markup of its yet-to-be-seen version of the bill. The House will take over Wednesday with a 9:30 a.m. full Appropriations Committee markup of its bill, which was released May 24 ahead of its subcommittee markup. The Senate will then close out the week Thursday with full Appropriations Committee markup starting at 10:30 a.m.
The EPA’s fiscal 2017 budget request includes roughly $235 million to support the administration’s climate agenda. Within that total, approximately $50.5 million is earmarked for state Clean Power Plan action plan development.
The House’s version of the bill as reported out of subcommittee funds the EPA at $7.98 billion, nearly $300 million less than the administration’s requested $8.267 billion and $164 million less than the agency’s $8.139 billion enacted fiscal 2016 budget. Within this total, the EPA’s regulatory programs are reduced by $43 million. Further detail of the House version will be revealed with the release of the committee report Tuesday ahead of the full committee markup.
Funding levels aside, the House bill also contains many policy provisions that have been deemed “poison pills” by the subcommittee Democrats. Riders include a prohibition on the EPA from implementing its greenhouse gas regulations for new and existing coal-fired power plants. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, is under a Supreme Court-ordered stay, halting implementation pending legal review, which is unlikely to conclude before the end of fiscal 2017.
