Only a handful of the approximately 40 policy riders that House Republicans sought to attach to the EPA portion of the omnibus spending bill survived to win inclusion in the final legislation – though one rider that did make it calls for a report to Congress on federal climate change spending.
Section 425 of the EPA portion of the larger omnibus bill directs the President to submit a report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees that describes “in detail, all Federal agency funding, domestic and international, for climate change programs, projects and activities in fiscal year 2011.” The report must break down climate spending by agency and project and is due to Congress 120 days after the President submits his 2013 budget request, which typically occurs in early February.
While Section 425 itself does not block any current or future spending on climate related programs, a detailed account of federal climate change spending could be used by opponents of such programs to target them for cancellation in future budget years.
Among the EPA riders that were dropped from the omnibus bill were provisions that would have barred EPA from implementing a new guidance on the jurisdiction of the federal Clean Water Act and a rider that would have exempted pesticide applications near water from new NPDES permitting requirements.