Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: FY2015 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 27, 2015 |
| Report Number |
R43617 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Hardy Vincent, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for most of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and for agencies within other departmentsâincluding the Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services. It also provides funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arts and cultural agencies, and numerous other entities.
For FY2015, the President requested $30.69 billion for the approximately 30 agencies and entities typically funded in the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations law. The President's request would have been an increase of $570.9 million (1.9%) over the total FY2014 enacted appropriations of $30.12 billion.
On July 23, 2014, the House Appropriations Committee reported H.R. 5171, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, containing $30.28 billion for FY2015. The measure included $470.0 million in additional fire suppression funding for the Forest Service. On August 1, 2014, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies released a draft measure and accompanying explanatory statement recommending $30.71 billion in total appropriations. The draft included $1.19 billion in emergency appropriations for Wildland Fire Management of DOI and the Forest Service. Neither measure saw subsequent legislative action.
Regular appropriations for FY2015 were not enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2015. Accordingly, continuing appropriations were temporarily provided under continuing appropriations laws (originally P.L. 113-164). Agencies generally received funding at the FY2014 level minus an across-the-board reduction of 0.0554%, under the authority and conditions provided for FY2014.
On December 16, 2014, regular, full-year appropriations were enacted for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies as part of P.L. 113-235, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015. The law included total appropriations of $30.48 billion for these agencies, primarily in Division F. For DOI agencies in Title I of the bill, appropriations were $11.09 billion, including $372.0 million for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. This was 36.4% of the total enacted. For the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), appropriations were $8.14 billion, or 26.7% of the total. For agencies and other entities in Title III of the bill, the total was $11.25 billion, or 36.9% of the total.
Appropriations enacted for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies over the prior five fiscal years (FY2010-FY2014) peaked in FY2010 at $32.32 billion. Relative to FY2010, the FY2015 enacted appropriations decreased by $1.84 billion (-5.7%). However, the FY2015 appropriations were higher than the appropriations enacted for each of the other fiscal years during the five-year period. They were $358.0 million (1.2%) higher than the most recent (FY2014) appropriations.
