Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
Latest action. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 521.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Highlights:
This bill provides FY2017 appropriations for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and related agencies.
The bill provides annual appropriations for most of the Department of the Interior, including:
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS),
the National Park Service (NPS),
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement,
the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
the Bureau of Indian Education, and
the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.
It does not include the Bureau of Reclamation, which is considered in the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill.
Related agencies funded in the bill include the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, the Department of Health and Human Service's Indian Health Service (IHS), the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The bill includes emergency funding for Interior and Forest Service fire suppression activities, which is not subject to discretionary spending limits. The bill also requires specified adjustments to discretionary spending limits in FY2017-FY2026 to accommodate appropriations for wildfire suppression operations in the Wildland Fire Management accounts at USDA and Interior.
The bill decreases appropriations for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies below FY2016 levels. Compared to FY2016 funding levels, the bill increases funding for Interior, the IHS, and the Smithsonian Institution, while decreasing funding for the EPA and the Forest Service.
Within the Interior budget, the bill increases funding for the BLM, the NPS, the USGS, and the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education. The bill decreases funding for the USFWS, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and Departmental Offices.
The bill also establishes a new Alaska Land Use Council and a Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission.
The summary continues for 251 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate without amendment" stage on June 16, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 16, 2016: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 521.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced it on June 16, 2016. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 16, 2016, 3738 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3738 days ago, on June 16, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers