Senate and House Agree on CR and Send Bill to President

After several false starts, the Senate finally passed an amended version of the House FY 13 Appropriations and Continuing Resolution measure (HR 933) and sent it back to the House for consideration on Wednesday, March 20.  The House concurred with the Senate’s measure to forestall a government shutdown that otherwise would take place next Monday.  On Thursday, March 21, the bill was sent to President Obama for his signature.

The Senate added several completed funding measures to the House’s work – notably, FY 13 funding for the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Justice & Science, and the Department of Homeland Security.  The House had included FY 13 funding for the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and Military Construction in its original measure.  For EPA, this means that FY 13 funding levels for broad program accounts look like this:

Science & Technology:                           $785,291,000

Environmental Programs & Management: $2,651,440,000

State & Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG): $3,579,094,000

Clean Water SRF:                                   $1,451,791,000

Drinking Water SRF:                              $908,713,000

No information is available, as yet, as to funding levels for the PWSS program.  The Senate measure further addresses unobligated balances by rescinding $10 million each from unobligated DWSRF and CWSRF balances and $15 million from unobligated categorical grants.