Appropriations for FY2004: Interior and Related Agencies (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised June 10, 2004 |
| Report Number |
RL31806 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Hardy Vincent, Resources, Science, and Industry Division; and Susan Boren, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
The Interior and related agencies appropriations bill includes funds for the Department of the
Interior
(DOI), except for the Bureau of Reclamation, and for some agencies or programs within three other
departments -- Agriculture, Energy, and Health and Human Services. It also funds numerous smaller
related agencies.
President Bush's FY2004 budget for Interior and related agencies totaled $19.89 billion, $220.5
million (1%) less than enacted for FY2003 ($20.11 billion). On July 17, 2003, the House passed
H.R. 2691 (268-152) containing a total of $19.60 billion for Interior and related
agencies for FY2004. On September 23, 2003, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 2691 with a total of $20.01 billion. A conference report was filed on October 28, 2003, and agreed
to by the House (216-205) on October 30 and approved by the Senate (87-2) on November 3, 2003.
The bill was signed into law on November 10, 2003 ( P.L. 108-108 ).
The final FY2004 appropriation provided $20.01 billion for the Department of Interior and
Related agencies, which reflected two across-the-board cuts: a 0.646% cut in the Interior
appropriations statute ( P.L.108-108 ), and a 0.59% cut in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2004 ( P.L. 108-199 ).
The FY2004 enacted level is slightly less than enacted for FY2003 (less than 1% lower). It is
essentially the same as the amount approved by the Senate (less than 1% higher), and higher than
the House-passed total (2% higher) and the President's request (less than 1% higher). The
appropriate levels of funding for wildland firefighting and land acquisition were among the major
issues debated. The FY2004 law contained $2.76 billion for wildland fire fighting by the Forest
Service and the Department of the Interior, approximately 13% less than the total enacted for
FY2003. For land acquisition (and state assistance) by the four major federal land management
agencies, the law contained $263.4 million, 36% less than enacted for FY2003.
Many controversial issues arose during consideration of the FY2004 Interior and related
agencies appropriations bill, and were addressed by conferees. The FY2004 law (1) continued the
automatic renewal of expiring grazing permits and leases for FY2004 -- FY2008; (2) extended the
Recreational Fee Demonstration Program; (3) modified procedures for seeking judicial review of
timber sales in Alaska, primarily in the Tongass National Forest; (4) capped funds for competitive
sourcing efforts of agencies and required documentation on the initiative; and (5) led to a stay of a
court decision requiring an accounting of Indian trust funds and trust asset transactions since 1887.
The law dropped language barring funds from being used (1) to implement changes to regulations
of the Bureau of Land Management on Recordable Disclaimers of Interest in Land, (2) for the
Klamath Fishery Management Council, and (3) for Outer Continental Shelf leasing activities in the
North Aleutian Basin planning area, which includes Bristol Bay, Alaska.
