109-54 . Introduction

The FY2006 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations law included funding for agencies and programs in three separate federal departments, as well as numerous related agencies and bureaus. The law also provided funds for agencies in two other departments: for the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, and the Indian Health Service in the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as funds for the Environmental Protection Agency. This report is organized along the lines of the law. FY2006 Budget and Appropriations

		Current Overview

The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 2361 ) was signed into law on August 2, 2005 as P.L. On July 28 th , 2005, the House approved the conference agreement (410-10), and on July 29 th , 2005, the Senate agreed to the conference report (99-1). Congress also included in this law $1.50 billion in supplemental funds to cover a shortfall in veterans' health care resources. The FY2006 appropriations law provided $26.20 billion, an increase of 2% over the President's budget request for FY2006 of $25.72 billion, but a decrease of 3% below the FY2005 enacted level of $27.02 billion. The FY2006 total appropriation reflects an across-the-board rescission of 0.476% to be applied across accounts. However, it does not reflect a 1% across-the-board rescission, other rescissions, and emergency supplemental funds contained in P.L. 109-148 . Further, the figures used throughout this report do not reflect these supplemental funds or the rescissions in either law because their effect on individual agencies, programs, and activities has not yet been calculated. The FY2006 appropriations law reflected lower funding as compared to the FY2005 enacted level in areas including:
$-507.1 million for the Forest Service (FS); $-294.1 million for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); $-75.8 million for the National Park Service (NPS); and $-36.4 million for the Bureau of Land Management. The FY2006 appropriations law reflected higher funding than the FY2005 enacted level in areas including
$105.7 million for Indian Health Service; $31.5 million for the United States Geological Survey (USGS); $12.5 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); and $10.0 million total for National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). For FY2005, Congress appropriated $843.2 million for the drinking water SRF.
The FY2006 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), except for the Bureau of Reclamation, and for two agencies within other departments—the Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services. It also includes funding for arts and cultural agencies; the Environmental Protection Agency, which was newly-transferred to the Appropriations subcommittees that deal with Interior and Related Agencies; and numerous other entities and agencies.
On August 2, 2005, H.R. 2361 was signed into law as P.L. 109-54, containing approximately $26.20 billion in FY2006 appropriations for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Congress also included in this law $1.50 billion in supplemental funds to cover a shortfall in veterans' health care resources. On July 28, 2005, the House approved the conference agreement (410-10), and on July 29, 2005, the Senate agreed to the conference report (99-1). The FY2006 appropriations law provided an increase of 2% over the President's request for FY2006 of $25.72 billion, but a decrease of 3% below the FY2005 enacted level of $27.02 billion. The FY2006 total appropriation reflects an across-the-board rescission of 0.476% ($126.0 million) to be applied across accounts. However, it does not reflect rescissions and emergency supplemental appropriations contained in P.L. 109-148. Further, the figures used throughout this report do not reflect the supplemental appropriations or the rescissions in either law because their effect on individual agencies, programs, and activities has not yet been calculated.
The FY2006 appropriation reflected lower funding than the FY2005 enacted level in areas including
$-507.1 million for the Forest Service (FS); $-294.1 million for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); $-75.8 million for the National Park Service (NPS); and $-36.4 million for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The FY2006 appropriation reflected higher funding than the FY2005 enacted level in areas including
$105.7 million for the Indian Health Service (IHS); $31.5 million for the United States Geological Survey (USGS); $12.5 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); and $9.2 million for Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT).
During consideration of FY2006 funding, Congress debated many issues including appropriate funding for wildland fire fighting, land acquisition, NEA, select FWS programs, BIA schools, IHS hospitals, the Superfund, wastewater/drinking water needs, agency competitive sourcing activities, maintenance backlogs, Indian trust fund management, Outer Continental Shelf leasing, the Abandoned Mine Lands fund, and EPA's human dosing studies. This report is not expected to be updated.