Hearing of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee - FY 2016 Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

Hearing

Good morning and welcome to the Subcommittee markup of the fiscal year 2016 Interior,
Environment and Related Agencies bill. I want to thank our colleagues--especially Chairman
Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey--for joining us today.

Before we get into the details of the bill, I want to take a moment to thank my good friend and
our ranking member, Ms. McCollum, for her partnership and work on this bill. I also want to
thank each of our Subcommittee Members for their efforts, their active participation in our
hearing process this year, and the collegiality that continues to be a hallmark of our
Subcommittee's deliberations.

The fiscal year 2016 Interior and Environment bill is funded at $30.17 billion which is $246
million below the FY15 enacted level and $3 billion below the budget request. We have made a
sincere effort to prioritize critical needs throughout the bill within its 302(b) allocation. As you
all know, we face some serious challenges.

In seven of the last ten years, the costs of fighting wildland fires have exceeded the ten-year
rolling average which has been the benchmark for wildland fire suppression budgeting. Fire
seasons are becoming longer and more destructive, putting people, communities, and ecosystems
at greater risk. The policy of borrowing funds from other programs in order to fight fires makes
forests less healthy and fuels more fires and fire-related spending. This is an endless cycle that
Congress must address.

In the meantime, the Committee has again provided robust wildland fire funding in its fiscal year
2016 bill. Fire suppression accounts (including the FLAME reserve fund) are again fully funded
at the ten-year average level. Significant increases in last year's hazardous fuels management
budget have been maintained in the legislation before us today.

This bill also makes critical investments in Indian Country--a non-partisan priority of this
subcommittee. Overall, funding for the Indian Health Service is increased by $145 million (or
three percent), while funding for the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Education is increased by
$165 million (or six percent) from fiscal year 2015 levels--the largest percentage increase in this
bill.

The bill fully funds contract support costs and tribal grant school support costs; provides funding
to staff newly constructed health facilities; addresses the rising cost of medical inflation;
improves public safety; and invests an additional $103 million in fiscal year 2016 to address
critical needs of elementary and secondary schools throughout the BIE system.
This bill provides full funding in fiscal year 2016 for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT)
program. PILT payments are made to 49 of the 50 states, as well as to the District of Columbia,
Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The bill also provides $2.7 billion for the National Park Service, including more than $60 million
in new funding relating to the Centennial of the National Park Service.

We have also attempted to address a number of concerns within the Fish and Wildlife Service
accounts. The bill funds popular grant programs at slightly above fiscal year 2015 enacted
levels. It also provides additional funds to combat international wildlife trafficking; protects fish
hatcheries from cuts and closures; continues funding to fight invasive mussels and Asian carp;
and reduces the backlog of species that are recovered but not yet de-listed.

The bill also provides $248 million for Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) programs
that enjoy broad, bipartisan support. Some Members would prefer more funding; others would
prefer less funding for LWCF. We have attempted to forge a middle ground that begins to return
the emphasis of LWCF to its original intent of recreation and State and local acquisitions.
Overall, funding for EPA is reduced by $718 million (or 9 percent) from fiscal year 2015 enacted
levels. Several members of the Subcommittee will be pleased to know that the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative is maintained at the fiscal year 2015 enacted level of $300 million. Rural
water technical assistance grants and many categorical grants--including radon grants--are also
level funded at the fiscal year 2015 enacted level.

Again this year, there is a great deal of concern over the number of regulatory actions being
pursued by EPA in the absence of legislation and without clear congressional direction. For this
reason, the bill includes a number of provisions to address some of these concerns, and to stop
unnecessary and damaging regulatory overreach by the agency.

Before closing, I'd like to make one further point about several Endangered Species Act
provisions in this bill. This Subcommittee has no interest in interfering with science and no
interest in forcing any species to go extinct. It is concerned about Federal regulatory actions
lacking in basic fairness and common sense. Nowhere is this more evident than with sagegrouse.

States are rightfully concerned that a listing or unnecessarily restrictive Federal land use plans
will jeopardize existing conservation partnerships with States and private landowners, which are
necessary to save the sage-brush ecosystem. This could eliminate jobs and curtail future job
growth, devastate State and local economies, and undermine the development of conventional
and renewable resources necessary for energy independence.

So long as sage-grouse are not under imminent threat of extinction, cooperative conservation
must be given a chance to work. That is why this bill maintains a one-year delay on any decision
to list sage-grouse, along with full funding to implement conservation efforts. The Committee
will closely monitor efforts by BLM and the States to improve the BLM land use plans over the
coming months so that listing sage-grouse is not warranted while States' rights are protected.

This markup is the beginning of a long process and I hope over the coming months we'll come
together--as we do each year--to find common ground. In that spirit, I look forward to
continuing to work with Ms. McCollum and the Members of the Subcommittee.

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