Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: FY2016 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (21 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 20, 2016 |
| Report Number |
R44061 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Hardy Vincent, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
Premium June 5, 2015 (18 pages, $24.95)
add
|
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 departments—including 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. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113), provided $32.23 billion for FY2016 for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. The total included $452.0 million for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which compensates counties and local governments for nontaxable lands within their jurisdictions. It also included additional funding for Wildland Fire Management, but it did not provide for either a new adjustment to the discretionary spending
limits in law or emergency funding for this purpose, both of which had been proposed. The FY2016 enacted total was a $1.75 billion increase (5.7%) over the FY2015 total of $30.48 billion.
Compared to FY2015, FY2016 funding for all DOI agencies increased by $925.5 million (8.3%), for EPA remained the same, and for Related Agencies increased by $822.3 million (7.3%). Agencies received varying amounts of the $32.23 billion for FY2016. The appropriations were $12.02 billion (37.3% of total) for DOI agencies, $8.14 billion (25.3% of total) for EPA, and $12.07 billion (37.5% of total) for other agencies and entities in Title III of the bill. In earlier action, the President had requested $33.32 billion in FY2016 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations. The President had sought an increase of $2.85 billion (9.3%) compared to the FY2015 total appropriation of $30.48 billion. The President’s request for FY2016 did not include funding for PILT, whereas the FY2015 appropriation included $372.0 million for the program. For Wildland Fire Management in FY2016, the President proposed a new $1.05 billion discretionary cap adjustment. H.R. 2822, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee on June 18, 2015, contained $30.23 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY2016. The bill included $452.0 million for PILT but did not include a new cap adjustment for wildfires.
The House considered many amendments during three days of floor debate, but no vote on final passage occurred. S. 1645, as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 23, 2015, contained $31.13 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. The total did not include discretionary funding for PILT, but it reflected $1.05 billion in emergency appropriations for Wildland Fire Management. S. 1645 was not considered on the Senate floor. The Senate committee-reported bill included $899.6 million (3.0%) more than the House committee-reported bill. The largest dollar difference was for Wildland Fire Management. The Senate bill also was $653.6 million (2.1%) more than FY2015 appropriations, whereas the House bill was $246.0 million (0.8%) less than FY2015. Both the Senate and House committee-reported bills contained lower funding for FY2016 than sought by the President; S. 1645 was $2.19 billion (6.6%) less than the President’s request, while H.R. 2822 was $3.09 billion (9.3%) less.
