LegiStorm

Summary:

The Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill includes funding for agencies and programs in four separate federal departments as well as numerous smaller agencies and diverse programs. The bill includes funding for the Interior Department except the Bureau of Reclamation, but only segments of the funding of the other three departments, Agriculture, Energy, and Health and Human Services. On February 1, 1999, President Clinton submitted his FY2000 budget to Congress. The FY2000 request for Interior and Related Agencies totaled $15.266 billion compared to the $14.298 billion enacted for FY1999 ( P.L. 105-277 ), an increase of almost $1 billion. The Administration also proposed $579 million for Department of Interior agencies as part of the $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported the FY2000 Interior Appropriations bill ( S. 1292 , S.Rept. 106-99 ) on June 28, 1999, and the House Appropriations Committee reported its version of the bill ( H.R. 2466 , H.Rept. 106-222 ) on July 2, 1999. The committee-approved levels were $14.058 billion in the Senate and $14.105 billion in the House, a difference of $46.7 million. On July 15, 1999, the House passed H.R. 2466 by a vote of 377-47, providing $13.935 billion in FY2000 funding. On September 23, 1999, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 2466 by a vote of 89-10, providing $14.056 billion for FY2000. The conference report ( H.R. 2466 , H.Rept. 106-406 ) was agreed to by both the House and Senate on October 21, 1999. It provided a total of $14.534 billion; after scorekeeping adjustments, the amount was $14.565 billion (including $57.4 million in mandatory funding). The totals included $68 million of emergency funding for the United Mine Workers of America combined benefit fund. However, this conference agreement was not sent to the President. Instead, following renegotiations, the House and Senate incorporated the five remaining appropriations measures into a single measure ( H.R. 3194 , H.Rept. 106-479 ), which initially provided funding only for the District of Columbia. The omnibus measure passed the House on November 18, 1999, and the Senate on November 19, 1999. The "Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2000" was enacted into law on November 29, 1999 ( P.L. 106-113 ). The Interior appropriations portion of the consolidated measure also was introduced as a separate bill ( H.R. 3423 ), which the consolidated measure enacted by cross-reference. The consolidated measure contained a total Interior appropriation of $14.928 billion; after scorekeeping adjustments, the total was $14.959. These amounts, and others in this report, do not reflect the government-wide cut of 0.38% in discretionary appropriations for FY2000 that was required by the omnibus appropriations measure. Before the consolidated appropriations measure was signed into law, a total of seven measures providing continuing appropriations for Interior (and other appropriations measures) had been enacted. These continuing resolutions covered October 1, 1999, through December 2, 1999.