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Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA would receive $7.4 billion in funding for fiscal year 2016, $718 million less (or 9 percent less) than what it received in the previous fiscal year. Regulatory programs would be cut by $69 million from fiscal year 2015, and funded $206 million below the President’s budget request. The EPA’s staffing levels would be limited to 15,000 workers, the agency’s lowest level since 1989.

This spending measure would also remove the EPA's power to implementing certain new regulations like:

Restrictions on greenhouse gas from new and existing power plants;
Changes to the definition of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act, or “fill material”;
Duplicative financial assurance requirements;
Guidelines on the lead content of ammunition and fishing tackle.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would get $1.1 billion in funding — up $30 million from the prior year. Funding that was set aside for sage grouse conservation would grow from $15 million to $45 million. Proposals to increase oil and gas inspection fees, and raise grazing fees assessed on ranchers using federal land would be blocked.

National Parks & Forests

The National Park Service (NPS) would be funded at $2.7 billion — an increase of $53 million from fiscal year 2015. Specifically, an extra $52 million of funding for park operations and maintenance would go to reducing the maintenance backlog at the NPS.

The U.S. Forest Service is would be funded with $5 billion — a $13 million cut from the prior year. More than half of that funding would go to wild land fire prevention and suppression. The Forest Service and BLM would be prohibited from issuing new closures of public lands to hunting and recreational shooting, except in cases of public safety.

At $1.4 billion for fiscal year 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) would lose $8 million in funding from the previous year. Funding would be prioritized for programs that:

Conserve the sage-grouse,
Reduce the delisting backlog for recovered species that were previously protected,
Fight invasive species,
Prevent illegal wildlife trafficking,
And keep fish hatcheries open.

Any rule making under the Endangered Species Act related to the sage grouse would be delayed for one year.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) would get the same amount of funding as the previous year — $1.05 billion. Funding would be prioritized for handling natural hazards, groundwater monitoring, mapping, and upkeep on the earthquake early warning system.

Appropriations for the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) would total $180 million — $30 million more than the previous year. $30 million of this funding would go to a program that accelerates the reclamation of abandoned mine lands to boost community redevelopment and economic growth. States would receive $58 million in grant funding from OSM. A proposal to hire federal regulators to duplicate state inspections would be blocked.

Other Programs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Education would receive $2.8 billion for operations — an increase of $165 million. The Indian Health Service would receive an additional $145 million from the previous year for a total funding level of $4.8 billion. This additional funding would go to staffing newly constructing health facilities, keeping pace with medical inflation, and investing in the operation, maintenance, and replacement of schools.

The Federal Payments to Local Communities (a.k.a. “Payments\n In Lieu of Taxes or PILT) program is used to compensate local \ngovernments for losses in property tax revenue due to nontaxable federal\n lands in their county. That program would receive $452 million for fiscal year\n 2016.

","official_title":"Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)\n\nHighlights: The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 provides appropriations for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and related agencies for FY2016.\n\nThe bill provides regular annual appropriations for most of the Department of the Interior, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Park Service (NPS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. It does not include the Bureau of Reclamation or the Central Utah Project.\n\nRelated agencies funded in the bill include the Department of Agriculture's Fore...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"People affected by environmental regulations, or fishing, hunting, and land management regulations, or that participate in Native American programs; the EPA and agencies of the Department of the Interior, or Native American agencies; Congress.","argument_for":"This bill authorizes sensible funding levels for all the covered agencies, and allows the EPA to focus on enforcing existing regulations rather than creating new job-killing regulations.","argument_against":"Cutting the EPA’s budget is an overtly political gesture that will only reduce its ability to create and enforce new regulations that otherwise would have improved air and water quality.","bill_type":"hr","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"hr2822-114","bill_id":"hr2822-114","formal_id":"H.R. 2822","chamber":"house","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2015-07-09T00:37:08.000Z","active":true,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":"2015-07-06T00:00:00.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/2822","plain_text_url":"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114hr2822rh/html/BILLS-114hr2822rh.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr2822-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/2822/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2015-06-18","related_bill_ids":["hres333-114","s1645-114","s2132-114","hr2029-114"],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":590,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Appropriations","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSAP","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=hr2822-114","details":"/api/bills/hr2822-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/hr2822-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/hr2822-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/hr2822-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":0,"slug":"hr2822-114-department-of-the-interior-environment-and-related-agencies-appropriations-act-2016","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":6361,"yea_vote_count":2904,"nay_vote_count":3439,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["public-land-and-resources","emergency-management","health","economy","environment","government","work","energy","animals"],"issue_ids":["public-land-and-resources","emergency-management","health","economy","environment","government","small-business","transparency","budgets","work","epa","energy","animals"],"sponsor_id":487}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"public-land-and-resources","name":"Public Land & Resources","slug":"public-land-and-resources","description":"US Congressional Legislation related to the administration of Public Lands, including: National Parks, Historic Sites, Marine and Coastal Resources, Monuments, Mining, Parks and Wilderness Areas. 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Here you can find bills encompassing US monetary policy, the US Federal Budget, overall government spending, appropriations and how we handle the US federal debt and state finances. ","page_title":"Legislation related to the US Economy, monetary policy, the federal budget and government spending - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/economy/black_economy-1429042041.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/economy/grey_economy-1429042041.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/economy/white_economy-1429042041.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"environment","name":"Environment","slug":"environment","description":"Congressional legislation related to research and regulation of the Environment, including: Air and water quality, Pollution, Climate Change, Recycling, Radioactive Waste, Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Substances. ","page_title":"Federal legislation related to environmental protections and regulation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/black_environment-1429042042.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/grey_environment-1429042042.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/white_environment-1429042042.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"government","name":"Government","slug":"government","description":"Federal legislation related to the operations of the US Federal Government. Bills can encompass government administration, regulation of political parties, the US postal service, US territories and public contracts.","page_title":"US Government - Federal legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/government/black_government-1453508811.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/government/grey_government-1453508811.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/government/white_government-1453508811.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"small-business","name":"Small Business","slug":"small-business","description":"Vote on the latest federal legislation regarding Small Business. 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Funding the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and Other Agencies for FY 2016