APPROPRIATIONS: White House blasts House energy and water bill

APPROPRIATIONS: White House blasts House energy and water bill

Hannah Northey, E&E reporter, Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The White House yesterday blasted a House energy and water spending bill that would block the Obama administration’s water rule and boost funding for nuclear and fossil fuel research, calling it “irresponsible.”

Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) in a letter that the Obama administration has “serious” reservations with the fiscal 2016 energy and water spending bill.

The Appropriations panel is expected to easily pass the $35.4 billion spending bill today, after a subcommittee approved the language unanimously last week.

In a statement provided yesterday to E&E Daily, Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing defended the spending plan and said it was “based on the actual discretionary funding levels set by existing statute,” rather than on faulty White House revenue estimates.

The bill, which would provide fiscal 2016 funding for the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, will likely head to the House floor for final passage by early next month.

Donovan said the White House wanted to air its concerns before the full committee takes the language up and warned that the appropriations measure — one of the first to be considered under the Republicans’ 2016 budget framework — would lock in sequestration funding levels for the coming fiscal year.

“Sequestration was never intended to take effect: rather, it was supposed to threaten such drastic cuts to both defense and non-defense funding that policy makers would be motivated to come to the table and reduce the deficit through smart, balanced reforms,” Donovan wrote. “The Republicans’ 2016 budget framework would bring base discretionary funding for both defense and non-defense to the lowest levels in a decade.”

Donovan criticized the House measure’s “misplaced priorities” and said it would introduce deep cuts into critical energy research, efforts to modernize the electric grid, game-changing technologies and clean water.

Compared with the president’s budget proposal, Donovan said the House language would cut $1 billion from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Slashing those funds would reduce research and development at national labs and universities for clean energy, as well as research to reduce energy and oil dependence.

The bill would also slash $111 million the president had requested to support upgrading the country’s rickety electric grid, an effort that the administration found to be critical in the Quadrennial Energy Review it released yesterday.

“In the face of increasing threats — from extreme weather to cyberattacks — the cuts in this bill run counter to efforts, such as State energy assurance planning and technology development, that will strengthen the U.S. economy, create jobs, and support the middle class,” Donovan wrote.

House Republicans are also proposing to provide $45 million less than President Obama for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a research agency focused on game-changing technological breakthroughs, he noted.

Lastly, Donovan said the bill includes “highly problematic ideological riders” that are “irresponsible,” adding that appropriations bills should be free of such language.

Under the bill, GOP lawmakers would set the Army Corps’ budget at $5.6 billion, $142 million higher than current spending levels and $865 million more than the president’s budget request. But the bill would block the agency from using funding to implement the “Waters of the U.S.” rule, a controversial regulation the Obama administration is finalizing to clarify which streams and wetlands fall under the Clean Water Act.

House Republicans are also trying to kill the rule through a separate bill passed last week by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that would require U.S. EPA and the Army Corps to withdraw the regulation and seek an alternative proposal.

“This is irresponsible. American families are counting on us to take responsible steps to protect our children’s health. American businesses — from manufacturing and brewing to farming and ranching — cannot function without clean water,” Donovan wrote. “These riders stand in the way of meeting our responsibilities — hamstringing permitting and future regulatory work, and creating significant ambiguity regarding existing regulations and guidance.”

Hing, the committee spokeswoman, said the administration’s wish list was unrealistic.

“The White House’s request for funding for these, and all, discretionary programs is based on the phony assumption that Congress will magically have an additional $76 billion in funding at its disposal,” she said. “According to the President’s budget request, these fabricated additional funds would come primarily through tax increases that are not, and will never become, current law.”