Summary of FY 2019 Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act

This week, the House is expected to consider the Fiscal Year 2019 Interior-Environment and Financial Services and General Government appropriations bills as a two-bill minibus. These bills cut environmental protection, undermine clean air and water laws, zero out election security grants, roll back consumer protections, and attack women’s health. A full summary of the legislation is included below. A PDF copy is available here.

Division A: Interior-Environment

The 2019 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill would place the health and safety of the American people at risk by slashing critical funding for climate change and environmental enforcement which threatens lives and livelihoods.  Ideological policy riders continue the assault on our environment by undermining the Administration’s ability to keep our land, water, and air clean and protect threatened species.

The FY 2019 Interior-Environment bill totals $35.252 billion, the same as FY 2018 and $6.975 billion above the request.

The bill provides:

• $8.323 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is $100 million less than the 2018 enacted level and $1.767 billion above the President’s budget request.
  • $1.54 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (Title II: $1.39 billion, Title IV: $150 million), which is $150 million less than the 2018 enacted level and $150 million above the President’s budget request.
  • $1.013 billion for the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is $150 million less than the 2018 enacted level and $150 million above the President’s budget request.
  • $75 million (Title II: $50 million, Title IV: $25 million) for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Grants, which is $40 million above the FY 2018 enacted level and $28 million above the President’s budget request.
• $1.353 billion for the Bureau of Land Management, which is $55 million above the 2018 enacted level and $364 million above the President’s budget request.
• $1.583 billion for the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is $11 million less than the 2018 enacted level and $357 million above the President’s budget request.
• $3.253 billion for the National Park Service, which is $50 million above the 2018 enacted level and $550 million above the President’s budget request.
• $1.167 billion for the U.S. Geological Survey, which is $19 million above the 2018 enacted level and $308 million above the President’s budget request.
• $3.104 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education, which is $40 million above the 2018 enacted level and $689 million above the President’s budget request.
• $3.94 billion for Wildland Fire Management, which includes the 10-year average for fire suppression costs, plus an additional $500 million for Forest Service suppression operations. 
• $3.127 billion for the U.S. Forest Service (non-fire), which is $73 million more than the 2018 enacted level and $909 million above the President’s budget request.
• $5.908 billion for the Indian Health Service, which is $370 million more than the 2018 enacted level and $484 million above the President’s budget request.
• $155 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is $2 million more than the 2018 enacted levels and rejects the President’s budget proposal to eliminate the Agencies.
• $360 million for the Land and Water Conservation fund, which is $65 million less than the FY 2018 enacted level and eliminated in the President’s budget request.
• $500 million in discretionary appropriations for Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), $35 million above the budget request, (this program was authorized as mandatory spending from FY 2008 to FY 2014).

The bill includes eighteen policy riders, including:

• Prohibiting the Fish and Wildlife Service from revisiting the status of the Sage Grouse, including Bi-State Sage Grouse, on the Endangered Species list.
• Requiring the Secretary of the Interior to reissue final rules to delist wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region that were overturned by a federal court and exempts those reissued rules from judicial review.
• Prohibiting funds to treat any gray wolves, (including the Mexican wolf) range-wide in the lower 48 contiguous States and D.C. as endangered or threatened species.
• Prohibiting listing of Trestles Historic District, San Diego County, California, on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Prohibiting the use of funds to regulate the lead content of ammunition or fishing tackle.
• Permanently requires the EPA to treat air emissions from forest biomass activities as non-contributors of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Prohibiting the use of funds to require permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material for certain agricultural activities.
• Repealing the existing Waters of the United States Rule.
• Prohibiting the use of funds to issue any regulation under the Solid Waste Disposal Act that applies to an animal feeding operation.
• Exempting the California WaterFix project from judicial review under state or federal law, including claims arising under the ESA, NEPA, Clean Water Act, California Endangered Species Act, and California Environmental Quality Act.
• Exempting water projects operated by the California Department of Water Resources, and all projects authorized under section 2 of the CALFED Bay-Delta Authorization Act from judicial review.
• Prohibiting the use of funds to set aside forest land for marbled murrelet.
• Prohibiting funds to transplant or introduce grizzly bears into the North Cascades Ecosystem.
• Prohibiting the use of funds for water rights related to permit acquisition.

Division B: Financial Services and General Government

The Financial Services and General Government bill zeroes out election security grants, rolls back Dodd-Frank consumer protections, and includes radical Republican poison pill riders that attack women’s health, weaken campaign finance laws, and undermine democracy in the District of Columbia. It is the latest example of House Republicans following President Trump’s lead and turning their backs on hardworking American families.

The FY 2019 Financial Services and General Government bill totals $23.4 billion, the same as FY 2018 and $3.2 billion below the request.

The bill provides:

• $13.6 billion for the Department of the Treasury, which is $1.5 billion more than the FY2018 enacted level and $959 million more than the President’s request.
• $585 million for the Fund for America’s Kids and Grandkids, a newly-devised account that cannot be used until there is no federal budget deficit, which is $585 million more than both the FY2018 enacted level and the President’s request.
• $216 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which is $34 million less than the FY2018 enacted level and $202 million more than the President’s request.
• $11.6 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, which is $186 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and $120 million more than the President’s request.
• $7.7 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding for the Judiciary, which is $151 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and $42 million more than their request. 
• $1.7 billion for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is $201 million less than the FY 18 enacted level and $4 million less than the President’s request.
• $752 million for the District of Columbia, which is $30 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and $93 million more than the President’s request. 
• $741.9 million for the Small Business Administration, which is $41 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and $62.9 million more than the President’s request.
• $416 million for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is $234 million more than the FY2018 level and $386 million more than the President’s Request.
• $335 million for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Salaries and Expenses, which is $13 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and $2 million more than the President’s request.
• $103 million for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is $2 million more than the FY2018 enacted level and equal to the President’s request.
• $8.6 billion for the Federal Buildings Fund, which is $439 million less than the FY2018 enacted level and $1.5 billion less than the President’s request.
• $71.3 million for the Federal Election Commission, which is equal to the FY2018 enacted level and the President’s request.
• $10.1 million for Election Assistance Commission Salaries and Expenses, which is equal to the FY2018 enacted level and $900 thousand more than the President’s request. No funding is provided for election reform program state grants, $380 million less than the FY2018 enacted level and equal to the President’s request.

The bill includes the following policy riders:

• Prohibits funds from being used to subsidize any Federal health insurance plan that provides coverage for abortion services (including OPM negotiated multi-State ACA programs).
• Prohibits federal or local District of Columbia funds from being used for abortion services, and prohibits federal funds for needle exchange programs or programs that support evidence-based supervised drug consumption facilities.
• Prohibits federal funds to carry out District of Columbia laws to reduce penalties associated with schedule I substances; and restricts both Federal and local District of Columbia funds to enact a law to legalize or reduce penalties associated with schedule I substances.
• Prohibits the use of federal or local District of Columbia funds to carry out the District’s death with dignity law. Includes language repealing the law entirely.
• Prohibits the use of federal or local District of Columbia funds to carry out the District’s law prohibiting employers from discriminating against a person’s reproductive health choices.
• Prohibits funds for the IRS to finalize any regulation or other guidance to clarify the 501(c)(4) determination process.
• Prohibits funds  for the IRS to deny tax exemption to churches for engaging in political activity
• Prohibits Treasury from enforcing U.S. position on multilateral development banks engaging with developing countries on coal-fired power generation.
• Prohibits funds to require entities participating in the Federal acquisition program to disclose campaign contributions and prohibits funds for the SEC to require disclosure of political contributions, contributions to tax-exempt organizations, or dues paid to trade associations.
• Repeals the Federal Election Commission’s prior approval requirement for corporate member trade association PACs.
• Makes the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) subject to the appropriations process.
• Prohibits the importation of property confiscated by the Cuban government.
• Prohibits funds to approve or otherwise allow the licensing of a mark, trade name or commercial name that is substantially similar to one used in connection with a business or assets that were seized (Cuba).
• Prohibits funding to implement E.O. 13690 on establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.
• Prohibits funds for Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to finalize, implement, or enforce the proposed rule on recreational off-highway vehicles until a study is completed by the National Academy of Sciences.
• Prohibits funds for the FTC to complete a report prepared by the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children.
• Prohibits funds to enforce an SEC rule requiring disclosure of certain conflict minerals.
• Removes an Obama-era provision blocking pay raises for the Vice President and high ranking political appointees.

The bill also includes 31 authorizing bills outside of the committee’s jurisdiction. Twenty nine of the bills are related to financial services reform, many of which seek to amend Dodd-Frank. The bills touch on topics such as the Volcker rule, Gramm-Leach-Bliley’s privacy policies requirements, and bringing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Appropriations process.