Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: FY2009 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised May 29, 2009 |
| Report Number |
RL34461 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Hardy Vincent, Robert Bamberger, David M. Bearden, Robert Esworthy, Ross W. Gorte, Marc Humphries, Pervaze A. Sheikh, Roger Walke, R. Sam Garrett, Shannon S. Loane |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), except for the Bureau of Reclamation, and for two agencies within other departmentsthe Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the Department of Health and Human Services. It also includes funding for arts and cultural agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous other entities.
On February 17, 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5, H.R. 1). This broad economic stimulus legislation contained $10.95 billion in emergency funds for FY2009 for some of the accounts within agencies typically funded by the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations laws. In general, the funds were made available for obligation until September 30, 2010 (the end of FY2010).
On March 11, 2009, the President signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (P.L. 111-8, H.R. 1105). The omnibus law contained regular appropriations for FY2009 of $27.59 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This funding was $825.9 million (3%) below the FY2008 level of $28.42 billion (including $1.82 billion in emergency appropriations), but $1.78 billion (7%) above the FY2009 Bush Administration request of $25.81 billion. Together with funding in the stimulus law, Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies received a total of $38.54 billion for FY2009.
Regular appropriations for FY2009 were not enacted for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies before the October 1, 2008, start of the fiscal year. Instead, agencies were receiving funds under the terms of a continuing funding resolutionDivision A, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2009 (P.L. 110-329, FY2009 CR). The measure generally extended funding for accounts in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill at the amounts provided in the FY2008 regular appropriations law and under the terms and conditions provided in that FY2008 law. A notable exception was that the FY2009 CR removed the prohibitions on spending funds for oil and gas leasing activities in certain regions of the Outer Continental Shelf.
No bills providing regular appropriations for FY2009 for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies were reported by the House or Senate Appropriations Committees or considered on the House or Senate floor during the 110th Congress. Perhaps the biggest impediment to developing and considering an Interior bill was divisiveness over whether to retain long-standing prohibitions on funding for oil and gas leasing in the OCS. Other issues that have been controversial in Interior deliberations have included funding for Bureau of Indian Affairs construction, education, and housing; Indian Health Service construction and urban Indian health; wastewater/drinking water needs; land acquisition; the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program; the Superfund program; and wildland fire fighting, in addition to Indian trust fund management and royalty relief.
This report is not expected to be updated.
