Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today brought the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014 for a subcommittee vote. Simpson, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment Appropriations, put forth a bill that complies with the House Budget by cutting funding for agencies under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction by over $5 billion. 

The bill included $2.9 billion in cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.  This amounts to a 35% cut from current levels and brings the agency’s budget below FY 1978 levels. The bill also includes language preventing EPA from implementing the cornerstone of President Obama’s recently-announced climate change initiative.

“This Administration's appetite for new regulations and disregard for the will of Congress have left us with little choice but to block his climate change agenda in this bill,” said Simpson. “The actions we've taken to address the EPA’s overreach and reduce its budget not only help us meet the tight spending constraints under which we're operating, they help our struggling economy and encourage job creators to invest and expand.”

The bill includes a number of additional provisions to rein in EPA overreach and some of the costly regulatory actions being put out by the Obama Administration, including protection for farmers and ranchers from having personal information released by the agency, changes to the definition of navigable water under the Clean Water Act, and language regarding regional haze.

The House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the bill today.  It is expected to be taken up by the full Appropriations Committee next week.