More than six weeks after the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year the House and Senate finally approved the year’s first appropriations bill: a “minibus” conference report that combines the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bills into one measure.
The minibus (H.R. 2112) includes a total of $4.9 billion for NOAA, an increase of $306 million (7 percent) above its FY11 appropriation but $592 million (11 percent) below President Obama’s FY12 request for the agency. The bill does not include any mandated funding for a National Climate Service – which would offer centralized data and information to aid adaptation planning efforts – but it does not prohibit NOAA from funding the program through unobligated dollars, either. This represents a compromise between Republicans in the House, who sought to bar any Climate Service funding, and Senate Democrats and the Obama Administration, who requested a set-aside of dollars for the program.
The minibus bill also buys time for Congress to complete work on the nine remaining FY12 appropriations bills, as it includes a continuing resolution to extend funding for all other federal departments and agencies through December 16. Reports from Capitol Hill suggest that between now and then congressional appropriators hope to combine the rest of the FY12 spending legislation into a single omnibus bill – and bringing the FY12 appropriations work to a close once it passes both chambers.
No details have emerged on how much funding EPA may receive under an omnibus bill. Earlier this year the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut $1.5 billion from EPA’s budget, while their Senate counterparts proposed maintaining near-level funding for the agency.