LegiStorm

Summary:

Enacted on December 16, 2014, Title II of Division F of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235; H.R. 83) provided $8.14 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2015. The act appropriated funding for the full fiscal year through September 30, 2015, for 11 of the 12 regular appropriations acts, including “Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies,” under which EPA is funded. Total discretionary appropriations available in FY2015 for all federal departments and agencies were based on a cap of $1.014 trillion set in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-67, Division A). No regular appropriations acts for FY2015—including the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies— were enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year. Instead, EPA and other federal departments and agencies operated under a series of continuing resolutions prior to the enactment of P.L. 113- 235. The total FY2015 enacted appropriations of $8.14 billion for EPA was a $249.9 million (3.2%) increase above the President’s FY2015 request of $7.89 billion but $60.1 million (0.7%) below the FY2014 enacted appropriations of $8.20 billion. The July 15, 2014, House Appropriations Committee–reported bill H.R. 5171, for the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies would have provided $7.48 billion for EPA for FY2015. The chairman of the Senate Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee recommendations for FY2015 in the form of a draft bill on August 1, 2014, would have provided a total of $8.18 billion for EPA. There were both increases and decreases across the individual program activities funded within the nine EPA appropriations accounts when comparing the FY2015 enacted appropriations with those proposed for FY2015 and the FY2014 enacted levels. Considerable attention during the debate and hearings on EPA’s appropriations for FY2015 focused on federal financial assistance to states for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects, various categorical grants to states to support general implementation and enforcement of federal environmental programs as delegated to the states, funding for the agency’s implementation and research support for air pollution control requirements, EPA actions to address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and funding for environmental cleanup. In addition to funding for specific programs and activities, several recent and pending EPA regulatory actions received attention during hearings on FY2015 appropriations for EPA—similar to the debate regarding appropriations for the agency for recent fiscal years. The general provisions in Title IV of Division F of P.L. 113-235 included provisions restricting the use of funds for certain EPA actions similar to those contained in previous recent appropriations but only a subset of those included in the House committee reported bill, H.R. 5171. Provisions retained in P.L. 113-235 address EPA air quality regulation of livestock operations and reporting requirements for manure systems, use of U.S. iron and steel for drinking water infrastructure projects, and EPA regulation of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle. This CRS report provides an overview of funding levels for EPA accounts and certain program activities specified in P.L. 113-235 compared to H.R. 5171 as reported, the Senate subcommittee chairman’s draft, the President’s FY2015 request, and FY2014 enacted appropriations. The report also highlights issues associated with a subset of accounts and programs that were prominent in the debate on EPA’s FY2015 appropriations during the 113th Congress.