Republican leaders of the House Appropriations Committee in February proposed a continuing resolution (CR) to cut $100 billion from President Obama’s funding request for the 2011 fiscal year, and would hit EPA especially hard with a 29 percent cut from its current funding level.
Under the GOP’s proposed CR, EPA would receive about $7.3 billion in FY11 – a full $3 billion less than it received in FY10. Much of the cut would come from the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs: the DWSRF would be cut $557 million to $830 million, while the CWSRF would see a reduction of $1.41 billion to $690 million.
The CR would also restrict several EPA policy options, with sections banning EPA from moving forward on developing regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions and preventing the agency from implementing any guidance to change or expand which waters are subject to the federal Clean Water Act.
Congress is still debating FY11 funding levels because the House and Senate were unable to approve any of the 12 annual appropriations bills before the 2011 fiscal year began last October. Since that time, the federal government has been operating under a series of temporary funding bills, the latest of which is scheduled to expire on March 4. Democratic leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee will also formulate their own CR proposal, but have not yet made it available.