CRomnibus: An Appropriations Potpourri

It’s not the latest pastry craze, rather an attempt to end a legislative session marked by a 16-day government shutdown and partisan gridlock on a high note.  The $1.1 billion appropriations bill, which funds the federal government through next September, clocks in at 1,600 pages and is a hybrid omnibus and continuing resolution (CR).  Most agencies receive the full treatment under the omnibus, with the Department of Homeland Security receiving a CR through February; an exception intended to garner votes from Republicans dissatisfied with President Obama’s Executive Order on immigration.  The bill passed the House late Thursday evening and went to the Senate on Friday and is expected to pass.  It provides new funds for defense spending in the Middle East, controlling the spread of Ebola, and handling the flow of minors from Central America. Meanwhile, domestic programs remain mostly intact, with some exceptions.

The bill is a mixed bag for both sides; while Democrats held off provisions that sought to cut EPA authority over greenhouse gases and other environmental regulations, it reflects Republican priorities for the new Congress.  Retiring Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), the ranking member of the House Appropriations’ Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee, commented, "There are a number of riders we may not be able to hold off in future years." What’s in (or not in) the bill for clean energy, farms and forestry?  EESI has compiled a brief summary of some of the provisions.

Agriculture, Nutrition & Rural Development:

The February reauthorization of the Energy Title (Title IX) of the 2014 Farm Bill included $694 million in mandatory funding for bioenergy programs. The final omnibus contains $18 million in cuts to discretionary funding for these programs. Previously, House appropriators passed a bill this spring that would have cut mandatory funding to the energy title by $58 million. 

• A cut of $2 million to Sect. 9010 of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program
• A cut of $16 million to Sect. 9003 of the Biorefinery Assistance Program
• An increase of $1.35 million to Sect. 9007 of the Rural Energy for America Program

Funding levels for Sections 9002, 9004, 9006 and 9008 remain at mandatory levels for FY2015.

According to analysis conducted by the non-profit National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), $20.6 billion, or 2 percent of the total package, is directed to agriculture, nutrition and rural development programs administered by the USDA and Food and Drug Administration, representing a $305 million cut compared to last year.  

• Cuts to Conservation:  appropriators made cuts to both the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) as well as the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).  CSP, a program that pays enrolled farmers to initiate and maintain conservation practices was especially hard hit, with a reduction of eligible acres by 2.3 million, or about a quarter of the acreage authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. NSAC calls the move “shortsighted,” since it drastically reduces the total acres available for enrollment over the next ten years.
• The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), a new program that helps protect agricultural lands from development, maintained its mandatory funding.
• Parts of the overhaul to the school lunch program have been removed, such as a provision that would have required schools to serve whole grains.  A rule that would have gradually lowered the sodium content of foods served in schools was also placed on hold. But since the controversial school waivers (which would have allowed some schools to opt-out of the standards) did not make it into the final bill, nutrition experts are still counting this as a win.
• ‘Big Meat’ was handed a big win: many new protections provided to contract poultry and livestock growers in the 2014 Farm Bill were removed.  USDA is also directed to propose changes to the Country of Origin Labeling rule (COOL), which would require meat packers to label meats with country of origin information.   
• Direct farm ownership loans, which assist farmers in purchasing land, received a capital injection of $1.5 billion to deal with the backlog of farmers who have been approved for these loans. 
• The EPA and U.S. Corps of Engineers have been blocked, for now, on going ahead on pieces of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which would greatly expand the purview of EPA over U.S. waterways.  WOTUS remains highly controversial amongst both farmers and environmental groups.

Forestry:

The U.S. Forest Service appropriations are mixed as well  While appropriators recognize the importance of healthy forests and the role that sustainable biomass utilization can play, the broken wildfire funding system remains unchanged.  Appropriators directed the U.S. Forestry Service to continue prioritizing “research to improve management of the stressors impacting forests, and development of markets to offset the increasing cost of forest management. The Forest Service is urged to invest in high value, high volume markets for low value wood through a wide range of biomass uses, including nanotechnology, wood for energy, and green building construction.” 

At the last minute, language from the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act was removed.  This widely supported bipartisan deal would have sought to treat the worst one percent of wildfires as natural disasters, leaving needed dollars for forest management practices (EESI is a member of the Partner Caucus on Fire Suppression Funding Solutions). Instead, Congress fully funded the wildfire suppression fund at the 10-year average level, a number that has been steadily rising due to warmer temperatures and unhealthy forests. 

Interior, Environment and Related Agencies:

While environmental groups breathed a collective sigh of relief that EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases escaped largely untouched, many other areas were cut, including the historic $3 billion pledge to the United Nations’ Climate Fund, seen as a key tool in global climate negotiations.  EPA’s budget was also cut by $60 million relative to last year, and staffing at the agency could reach a 25-year low next year. Notable changes include:

• A provision that bars the administration from categorizing two types of rare sage grouse as endangered species. The sage grouse habitat is in the same areas of the prairie considered prime sites for oil and gas exploration, primarily in Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota.  The bill does include $15 million for sage-grouse habitat protection and “advanced collaboration efforts that could be models for conservation strategies in other places.”  
• A delay in the phase-out of energy inefficient incandescent light bulbs.
• Blocks EPA from regulating methane emissions from livestock; the administration released voluntary guidelines in 2014 under the Methane Reduction Strategy.
• Blocks EPA from regulating lead in ammunition and fishing lures; EPA has no pending legislation on this topic.
• Blocks the State Department from funding the President’s $3 billion pledge to the United Nations’ Climate Fund, a fund directed towards helping developing nations become more climate resilient.  Negotiators see the fund as a critical piece in securing buy-in from poorer nations at next year’s climate negotiations.
• Blocks the Export-Import bank, the export credit agency of the federal government, from denying financing to coal-fired power plants overseas. 

For more information see: 

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 

Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Budget winners? Boy Scouts. Budget losers? Michelle Obama, Politico Pro

Final Budget Guts Conservation Funding and Farmer Protections, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 

Budget deal leaves major climate plans intact, but previews wish list of new Congress, U.S. News & World Report

Coal Wins, Sage Grouse Loses in $1.1 Trillion U.S. Budget Deal, Bloomberg New Energy Finance