The House has adopted a $25.4 billion Interior-Environmental appropriations package that trims more than 35 percent from this year’s budget, including nearly 40 percent from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding, in a partisan Nov. 3 floor vote.
With the 213–203 adoption of HR 4821, the proposed Department of the Interior (DOI) fiscal 2024 spending plan, the House has now approved seven of the 12 appropriations packages that constitute the annual federal budget.
Among the 131 amendments debated on the floor over 10 hours split between two days were measures to rescind Biden administration public lands oil and gas royalties and lease rate hikes for the first time in a century, defund “environmental justice” initiatives, and “prohibit funds to implement Biden executive orders on climate change.”
As with the House versions of the $886.3 billion Defense, $91.5 billion Homeland Security, $52.5 billion State Department, and $57 billion Energy & Water Development appropriations packages, Democrats argued that the spending measures are larded with ideological culture war amendments certain to be rejected by the Democrat-led Senate.
Although the bill has no chance of becoming law, House Republicans hope to use it to strengthen their position in negotiations with the Senate about funding the government.Deep Cuts
The House’s proposed $25.4 billion fiscal 2024 DOI budget is $13.4 billion, or 35 percent, below fiscal 2023’s enacted funding. It allocates $14.3 billion for DOI operations, $677 million below fiscal 2023 levels and $3.4 billion below President Joe Biden’s budget request.
Under the House plan, the EPA would receive nearly $6.2 billion, a 39-percent slash from last year’s $10.1 billion budget and about half the $12.1 billion requested by the Biden administration. This would be the agency’s smallest budget in about three decades.
During Nov. 1’s House Rules Committee hearing on the chamber’s DOI and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development budgets, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) complained that Republicans are purposely dispatching budget bills to the Senate they know aren’t going to be adopted.
That is irresponsible, he said, after the House GOP conference dithered away three weeks trying to elect a speaker with a 45-day stopgap measure to fund the government set to expire on Nov. 17.
“So here we are, 10 legislative days away from a shutdown, and are once again considering meaningless funding bills that have no chance of becoming law. Which begets the question: What are we doing here?” he said.
Rules Committee Chair Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said the House’s DOI budget—and all the spending plans being adopted by the chamber—reflect the needs of the people, not the government.
The proposed House DOI budget delivers “a focus on fiscal restraint” along with essential resources for clean water public safety, safety, and domestic energy production, he said.
“Importantly, it limits efforts by the Biden administration to unduly burden hardworking farmers, ranchers, and landowners through their flawed Waters Of The United States rule and abuse of the Endangered Species Act,” Mr. Cole said. “It also ensures that we are leveraging all of the above energy approaches by unleashing significant oil and gas reserves, especially in my own state of Oklahoma, which will expand production to these valuable natural resources.
“HR 4821 is a strong bill,” he concluded. “I look forward to supporting it on the floor.”
That was the theme during two days of floor debates as the House worked through proposed amendments to the DOI budget; 282 went before the Rules Committee.
Debate
Among the most fiercely contested amendments debated on the floor was a proposal by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) to rescind the Biden administration’s increases in federal public land oil and gas royalty and per-acre lease rates.
The Biden administration last spring raised public lands oil and gas royalties from 12.6 percent to 16 percent and the per-acre annual lease rates from $1.50 to $15 per acre.
“At a time of increased energy dependence on our enemies,” the royalty and lease hikes mandated by 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) do “nothing to decrease inflation” and, in fact, raise energy costs for consumers, Mr. Ogles said.
The IRA offers “$1.2 trillion in ‘green’ subsidies” for renewable energy development while handicapping the nation’s oil and gas industry by increasing industry costs by $6.5 billion, he said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), ranking member of the House Interior and Environment Subcommittee, said it was inconceivable that Republicans “oppose modernizing” the public lands royalty and lease rates for the first time since they were imposed in the 1920s.
“I’ve been hearing all day that every penny counts, but I guess these pennies don’t count,” she said. “[Mr. Ogles] is complaining about the deficit, but he’s just catering to oil and gas interests. I have no idea how this works for us [in lowering energy costs]. This is a terrible amendment in a string of terrible amendments.”
In addition to the DOI-environmental budget, the Rules Committee on Nov. 1 also advanced the House’s proposed Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development budget in partisan 8–3 votes. The transportation spending plan will likely be debated on the floor beginning Nov. 6.
When it became apparent that Congress couldn’t adopt a new budget before the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, it passed a stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep the federal government funded at current spending levels for 45 days.
The adoption of the Sept. 30 CR prompted the dramatic ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) days later, which then led to three weeks of paralysis before Republicans selected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker on Oct. 25.
In an Oct. 23 letter to fellow Republicans before he was elected speaker, Mr. Johnson said that the House should rapidly approve its bills with their spending cuts to negotiate “from a position of strength” in forcing the Senate to accept some of the trims.
“So while each of these bills fund different parts of the government, they all share one thing in common: They’re fiscally responsible to ensure that our government is funded in a responsible manner, finding critical savings for the American people,” Mr. Johnson told reporters before the DOI budget hit the floor on Nov. 2, noting the nation is $33.6 trillion in debt. “As conservatives, we understand that savings are needed now more than ever.”
