113-235 ( H.R. The act included 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills. 113-235 ( H.R. 83 ) provided a total of $8.14 billion for EPA in Title II of Division F—Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015. No regular Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bills for FY2015 were passed by the House or Senate appropriations committees prior to the end of the fiscal year. This report briefly summarizes actions on the FY2015 appropriations for EPA and presents a breakout of the FY2015 enacted appropriations for the agency by each of the nine appropriations accounts and by selected programs and activities within those accounts that received more prominent attention in the congressional debate. The discussions and tables presented in this report compare the FY2015 enacted appropriations for EPA to FY2015 levels proposed in the President's FY2015 budget request, the House committee reported bill and Senate subcommittee draft, and the FY2014 enacted appropriations. 113-551 ) on July 15, 2014. Title II of the chairman's draft would have provided a total of $8.18 billion for EPA, $699.3 million (9.3%) more than the $7.48 billion in the House committee reported bill for FY2015, $292.1 million (3.7%) more than the FY2015 request of $7.89 billion but $17.9 million (0.2%) less than the FY2014 enacted level of $8.20 billion. 5171 as reported included a number of provisions (Title IV General Provisions) proposed by the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies and an additional amendment adopted during full-committee markup that would have restricted or prohibited the use of FY2015 funds by EPA for implementing or proceeding with a number of regulatory actions. A subset of the provisions in the House committee reported bill, several of which were similar to those included in recent fiscal years' appropriations, were retained in P.L. Funding for EPA under the CR was subject to the authority and conditions provided in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 (Division G, P.L. P.L. 113-235 , the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, enacted December 16, 2014, established final funding levels for the full fiscal year through September 30, 2015. The FY2015 enacted appropriations included both decreases and increases compared to the amounts proposed for 2015 and the 2014 enacted levels for individual programs and activities funded within each of the EPA appropriations accounts not specified in the bill itself but identified in the explanatory statement as reported in the Congressional Record . The following sections highlight funding issues associated with certain accounts and program activities that have been prominent in the debate on EPA's FY2015 appropriations. Key Funding Issues

Concerns regarding EPA's FY2015 funding focused particularly on prioritization and adequacy of funding for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects; categorical grants to assist states in implementing federal pollution control laws; implementation of air quality and climate change regulations, research, and related activities; and federal financial assistance for environmental cleanup of Superfund and Brownfields sites. The general provisions in Title IV of Division F of P.L. 113-235 included provisions restricting the use of funds for certain EPA actions similar to those contained in previous recent appropriations but incorporated only a subset of those included in H.R. P.L. P.L. 113-235 included a total of $1.09 billion for the Superfund account for FY2015 (prior to transfers to other EPA accounts), the same as the FY2014 enacted appropriations and slightly higher than the Senate subcommittee chairman's draft but $67.8 million (5.9%) below the $1.16 billion total proposed in the President's FY2015 request and in H.R.
Enacted on December 16, 2014, Title II of Division F of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235; H.R. 83) provided $8.14 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2015. The act appropriated funding for the full fiscal year through September 30, 2015, for 11 of the 12 regular appropriations acts, including "Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies," under which EPA is funded. Total discretionary appropriations available in FY2015 for all federal departments and agencies were based on a cap of $1.014 trillion set in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-67, Division A). No regular appropriations acts for FY2015—including the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies—were enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year. Instead, EPA and other federal departments and agencies operated under a series of continuing resolutions prior to the enactment of P.L. 113-235.
The total FY2015 enacted appropriations of $8.14 billion for EPA was a $249.9 million (3.2%) increase above the President's FY2015 request of $7.89 billion but $60.1 million (0.7%) below the FY2014 enacted appropriations of $8.20 billion. The July 15, 2014, House Appropriations Committee–reported bill H.R. 5171, for the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies would have provided $7.48 billion for EPA for FY2015. The chairman of the Senate Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee recommendations for FY2015 in the form of a draft bill on August 1, 2014, would have provided a total of $8.18 billion for EPA.
There were both increases and decreases across the individual program activities funded within the nine EPA appropriations accounts when comparing the FY2015 enacted appropriations with those proposed for FY2015 and the FY2014 enacted levels. Considerable attention during the debate and hearings on EPA's appropriations for FY2015 focused on federal financial assistance to states for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects, various categorical grants to states to support general implementation and enforcement of federal environmental programs as delegated to the states, funding for the agency's implementation and research support for air pollution control requirements, EPA actions to address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and funding for environmental cleanup.
In addition to funding for specific programs and activities, several recent and pending EPA regulatory actions received attention during hearings on FY2015 appropriations for EPA—similar to the debate regarding appropriations for the agency for recent fiscal years. The general provisions in Title IV of Division F of P.L. 113-235 included provisions restricting the use of funds for certain EPA actions similar to those contained in previous recent appropriations but only a subset of those included in the House committee reported bill, H.R. 5171. Provisions retained in P.L. 113-235 address EPA air quality regulation of livestock operations and reporting requirements for manure systems, use of U.S. iron and steel for drinking water infrastructure projects, and EPA regulation of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.
This CRS report provides an overview of funding levels for EPA accounts and certain program activities specified in P.L. 113-235 compared to H.R. 5171 as reported, the Senate subcommittee chairman's draft, the President's FY2015 request, and FY2014 enacted appropriations. The report also highlights issues associated with a subset of accounts and programs that were prominent in the debate on EPA's FY2015 appropriations during the 113th Congress.