The House and the Senate are different, its members like to say. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident this year than the spending bills that are advancing in both chambers.
Last week the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill to fund the Interior Department and EPA that totals about $42.7 billion. The House version passed earlier in the month is about $25.4 billion.
President Joe Biden asked for about $48.4 billion for the agencies funded in the bill, which also includes the Forest Service, part of USDA.
EPA’s budget would fall slightly in the Senate version from its fiscal 2023 figure of $10.1 billion. The Senate bill includes about $9.9 billion, but the House version would cut spending to $6.2 billion.
Biden asked for about $12.1 billion for EPA in fiscal 2024.
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The Interior Department receives $15.6 billion in the Senate bill. The House number is $14.3 billion.
Within DOI, the Bureau of Land Management would get about $1.5 billion (Senate) or $1.2 billion (House). The Senate bill would give the Fish and Wildlife Service $1.8 billion, compared to the House version’s $1.5 billion.
As controversial as the spending differences are, legislative language is also radically different. House Republicans have included riders addressing everything from the flying of the Gay Pride flag (it would be banned on federal buildings) to the dunes sagebrush lizard and the gray wolf, which the bill says shouldn’t be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The House bill also would block EPA from issuing a rule governing how rodenticides are used. The ag industry has staunchly opposed the EPA proposal.
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