Energy and Water Development: FY2012 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 6, 2012 |
| Report Number |
R41908 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carl E. Behrens, Anthony Andrews, David M. Bearden, Carol Glover, Mark Holt, Jonathan E. Medalia, Daniel Morgan, Charles V. Stern |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill provides funding for civil works projectsof the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation,the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies.President Obama's FY2012 budget request for Energy and Water Development was released inFebruary 2011, but the Congress was concerned for the first months of the year with completingthe appropriations cycle for FY2011. As with other funding bills, the FY2011 Energy and WaterDevelopment bill was not taken to the floor in either the House or the Senate in the 111thCongress. Funding for its programs was included in a series of continuing resolutions, and at thebeginning of the 112th Congress was part of a major debate over overall spending levels. Energyand Water Development programs were included in the Department of Defense and Full-YearContinuing Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-10) that became law April 15, 2011.For FY2012 the level of overall spending was a major issue. In addition, issues specific to Energyand Water Development programs included: the proposal to offset additional emergency supplemental funding for the Corps,for flood-related expenditures in the Midwest and elsewhere, with cuts in otherprograms; the distribution of appropriations for Corps (Title I) and Reclamation (Title II)projects that have historically received congressional appropriations aboveAdministration requests; alternatives to the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain,Nevada, which the Administration has abandoned (Title III: Nuclear WasteDisposal); and large differences in funding proposals for Energy Efficiency and RenewableEnergy (EERE) programs (Title III).On June 2, 2011, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Developmentapproved a FY2012 bill that would appropriate $30.6 billion for these programs, compared to theAdministration's request of $36.5 billion. The full Appropriations Committee voted out the bill(H.R. 2354) June 15. The bill passed the House July 15 by a vote of 219-196. On September 7 theSenate Appropriations Committee reported out its version of H.R. 2354 (S.Rept. 112-75).On October 4 the House agreed to a Senate-passed version of H.R. 2608, the ContinuingAppropriations Act, 2012, funding government programs at the FY2011 level through November18. The bill earlier had emergency funding for the Corps and for the Federal Energy ManagementAdministration (FEMA), but that was deleted when agreement could not be reached over whetherfunding should be offset.After several more short-term continuing resolutions, the House on December 16 and Senate onDecember 17 passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (H.R. 2055, P.L. 112-74),including Energy and Water Development Programs in Division B. Emergency funding for theCorps was included, without offsets, in a stand-alone bill (H.R. 3672, P.L. 112-77) that passed onthe same days.Bills: H.R. 2354, H.R. 2608, H.R. 2055, H.R. 3672
