{"id":756,"date":"2011-04-18T10:24:31","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T15:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=756"},"modified":"2013-07-19T11:53:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T16:53:52","slug":"out-of-the-fire-and-into-the-frying-pan-congress-passes-a-final-continuing-resolution-for-fiscal-year-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2011\/04\/18\/out-of-the-fire-and-into-the-frying-pan-congress-passes-a-final-continuing-resolution-for-fiscal-year-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan: Congress Passes a Final Continuing Resolution for Fiscal Year 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

By: Danielle Sugarman<\/p>\n

On Thursday, April 14, Congress approved a bipartisan agreement that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The trillion-dollar continuing resolution (CR) passed the House on a 260-167 vote, with 108 Democrats and 59 Republicans in opposition, before moving to an 81-19 approval in the Senate, with four Democrats and 15 Republicans dissenting.\u00a0 After months of acrimonious disagreement, the White House and Congressional leadership narrowly averted a government shutdown on Friday April 8 by approving by voice vote H.R. 1473<\/a>, which will become the final CR.<\/p>\n

The CR does not include most of the environmental policy riders that Republicans fought to include in the House Continuing Resolution H.R. 1<\/a>.[1]<\/a> These riders were aimed at removing EPA\u2019s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, air toxics, and mountaintop mining, among other things.\u00a0 However, the CR does involve spending cuts that will have a significant impact on EPA and other agencies\u2019 efforts to pursue climate and clean energy initiatives.\u00a0 In particular, the spending deal will have a profound impact on state regulators and local environmental projects.<\/p>\n

The CR reduces EPA\u2019s budget by $1.6 billion (16 percent), leaving its 2011 budget at $8.7 billion.\u00a0 \u00a0Among the cuts are $49 million from programs relating to climate change, $438 million from programs supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy (including an 18% cut to DOE\u2019s energy efficiency and renewable energy program), $638 million from environmental cleanup efforts by the Defense Department and $997 million from revolving funds through which the EPA provides money for local water treatment and pollution cleanup programs (including a $23 million cut from the Superfund budget).<\/p>\n

Three-quarters of these cuts, totaling $1.19 billion, relate to State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) which primarily fund water infrastructure upgrades and state plans which aid in compliance with new federal rules.\u00a0 The CR also includes a $191 million cut to regional programs, including president Obama\u2019s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.\u00a0 These cuts will be a significant hit to state agencies who are already struggling under years of budget cuts.<\/p>\n

The $49 million cut to climate change funding spans across all agencies.\u00a0 The CR adopts at least one climate change amendment that Republicans had included in H.R.1 which prohibits funding for the establishment of a Climate Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).\u00a0 The goal of the Climate Service was to combine all of NOAA\u2019s climate initiatives under one program. \u00a0In addition, in the President\u2019s initial fiscal 2011 budget, Obama had requested $25 million to help fund states\u2019 efforts to comply with new climate regulations.\u00a0 However, this money, along with another $57 million to assist with other new air pollution programs, was rejected in the CR.\u00a0 This may force states to go to their legislatures for money in order to finance greenhouse gas permitting activity required under EPA rules.<\/p>\n

The CR also includes language to remove the Grey Wolf from the endangered species list in states with approved management plans in place. \u00a0It would return management of wolf populations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Utah to the states. The rider to de-list the Grey Wolf is the first known instance of Congress directly intervening in the endangered species list, and is in direct opposition to a federal judge\u2019s recent decision forbidding the Interior Department to take such an action.[2]<\/a> \u00a0The bill also includes language to strip funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s \u201cwild lands\u201d order, [3]<\/a> which directs field managers to inventory wilderness-quality lands and consider protecting them in their natural state.<\/p>\n

Overall, federal spending on discretionary programs under the CR would be reduced $39.8 billion below enacted fiscal 2010 levels.\u00a0 While there are a myriad of restrictions and budget cuts for environmental initiatives that will undoubtedly have wide-reaching impacts, many Democrats were focusing on the positives.\u00a0 They argue that most cuts appear modest compared to the more drastic measures proposed in the original House budget. However, federal agencies are still in the process of working through the extensive and complex list provided by Congress and trying to determine their potential impact.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> H.R. 1 is the House adopted spending bill that failed in the Senate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/04\/13\/us\/politics\/13wolves.html?ref=interiordepartment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.gop.gov\/bill\/112\/1\/hr1473<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Danielle Sugarman On Thursday, April 14, Congress approved a bipartisan agreement that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The trillion-dollar continuing resolution (CR) passed the House on a 260-167 vote, with 108 Democrats and 59 Republicans in opposition, before moving to an 81-19 approval in the Senate, with four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[9424,9434],"class_list":{"0":"post-756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-congress","7":"tag-congress","8":"tag-energy-efficiency","9":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nOut of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan: Congress Passes a Final Continuing Resolution for Fiscal Year 2011 - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2011\/04\/18\/out-of-the-fire-and-into-the-frying-pan-congress-passes-a-final-continuing-resolution-for-fiscal-year-2011\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Out of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan: Congress Passes a Final Continuing Resolution for Fiscal Year 2011 - Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Danielle Sugarman On Thursday, April 14, Congress approved a bipartisan agreement that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. 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