The House of Representatives approved FY17 appropriations legislation on May 25 that will provide funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The House’s FY17 Energy and Water appropriations bill (H.R. 5055) would allocate $6.1 billion to the Army Corps next year, significantly above President Obama’s request of $4.6 billion. The bill also includes $1.1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation.
The measure includes a Republican-backed provision that would bar the Army Corps from implementing or enforcing the Obama administration’s controversial Clean Water Rule for the duration of the 2017 fiscal year. The provision was one factor that contributed to a veto threat against the bill leveled by the Obama Administration, but an amendment filed by House Democrats that would have removed the provision failed on the House floor by a vote of XXX-XXX.
The U.S. Senate approved its own version of the spending bill earlier in May, but without a provision that would block the Clean Water Rule. A majority of the Senate actually voted in favor of the amendment, but the 56-42 majority fell short of the 60 votes necessary to add it to the Senate legislation. The status of the Clean Water Rule is therefore expected to be a major topic of discussion when a conference committee convenes to negotiate a final version of the bill.