Congress on New Years Day took care of one of the last remaining pieces of business from 2012, approving a deal to delay an across-the-board budget “sequestration” that had been scheduled to cut funding for EPA and other federal agencies by 8.2 percent. The legislation approved by the House and Senate delays these cuts until March 1 – giving lawmakers a few more weeks to negotiate a permanent fix and avert the cuts that would cost EPA roughly $700 million this year.
The fiscal cliff bill also included an extension of the farm bill through September 30. Like the sequestration language, the farm bill extension is intended to buy time for Congress to approve a new five-year plan for USDA after it failed to do so in 2012. House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders are aiming to push new farm bills through their respective panels in the early part of this year.
While the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have yet to circulate drafts of their newest farm bills, the Conservation Titles of each proposal are expected to closely resemble the 2012 versions produced by the two panels. These proposals would have combined the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) with a number of other existing conservation programs. The new streamlined program, called the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, would continue to allow farmers and water systems to work together to apply for grant funding that would finance cooperative water quality and quantity measures, consistent with the purpose of AWEP.