NEW YORK –Tea party loyalists and fiscal conservatives have criticized House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for conceding to Democrat desires and passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill during the lame-duck Congress known as "CRomnibus."
While the indignation expresses frustration that establishment GOP politicians in Washington are too cozy with big-government liberal Democrats, the bill – a combination of a continuing resolution to fund the government for a period of time and an “omnibus” funding bill – did offer some conservative victories, including limiting funding for the scandal-ridden IRS.
Even though the spending topped the $1 trillion threshold, the CRomnibus was still consistent with the Ryan-Murray Agreement’s caps of $521 billion for defense and $492 billion for non-defense spending.
H.R. 83 fully funded 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills through Sept. 30, 2015. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security was provided under a continuing resolution that expires Feb. 27, 2015.
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That means a debate in the new Republican-controlled Congress over President Obama’s memoranda-issued amnesty “executive action” is almost certain to happen.
Highlights
Circulating in GOP circles in Washington, D.C., was a memo that highlighted little-known features of H.R. 83.
The bill accomplishes the following:
- Fully funds U.S. troops’ pay raise that was authorized in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
- Includes $94 billion for new equipment and upgrades of attack submarines, EA-18G Growlers, KC-46 Tankers, F-35 JSF and 3 Littoral Combat Ships
- Gives $5.4 billion to fight Ebola in the U.S. and abroad; an amount below the president’s request
- Provides $64 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding for troops, to combat ISIS, train and equip Iraqi allies and provide support for Ukraine.
- Prohibits the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into the U.S.
- No new funding for Obamacare
- Prohibits funds for Obamacare Risk Corridors
- Requires Health and Human Services and Treasury to report to Congress on improper payments of Obamacare tax subsidies
- Cuts the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) by $10 million
- Maintains all existing pro-life policy and funding provisions
- Hyde Amendment, Tiahrt Amendment, Helms Amendment and Kemp-Kasten Amendment, bans public funding for abortions in the District of Columbia, within Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and federal prisoners
- Three new pro-life provisions:
- Obamacare transparency – requires Obamacare plans to tell customers if they provide abortion services
- Conscience protection – requires HHS Office of Civil Rights to address complaints of violations
- Provides $12 million in unused abstinence education funds
- Cuts Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) $60 million. It's the fifth consecutive year of cuts, totaling a 21 percent reduction since FY 2010 and a decrease in 2,000 positions to 1989 levels
- Prohibits regulation of farm ponds and irrigation ditches
- Prohibits listing the sage grouse on the Endangered Species List
- Protects Second Amendment rights and prohibits EPA regulation of lead content in ammunition or fishing tackle
- Amends Dodd-Frank, swapping push-out requirements to protect farmers and other commodity producers
- Cuts IRS funding $345.6 million, which is $1.5 billion below the president’s request and below FY 2008 levels.
- Prohibits IRS targeting organizations based on their ideological beliefs or for exercising their First Amendment rights
- Prohibits the White House ordering review of tax-exempt status
- Prohibits IRS funds for inappropriate videos and conferences
- Prohibits local and federal funds to implement legalization of recreational marijuana use in D.C.
- Prohibits requiring businesses to disclose political contributions
- Fully funds the U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding at $3.1 billion
- Prohibits funds for the Palestinian Authority if it unilaterally seeks membership at the U.N. and does not counter incitement of violence
- Requires the Obama administration to keep Congress informed on Iran nuclear negotiations
- No funds for the International Monetary Fund
- Prohibits funds for Green Climate Fund
- Provides flexibility for the administration’s school-lunch regulations
- Fully funds Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) in the Department of the Interior at $442 million, including funds authorized in FY 2014 NDAA)
- Prevents new fees on onshore oil and gas producers
- Stops National Labor Relations Board’s regulations related to e-Card Check
- No funds for high-speed rail
- Cuts AMTRAK by $90 million
- Protects small business from overregulation related to commercial trucking, weight limits, driver hours and hazmat permitting
- Provides $2.5 billion for processing Veterans Administration (VA) disability claims to end the backlog and rescinds $41 million in performance bonuses at the VA
Republican legislators also sought to use H.R. 83 to advance conservative goals in the broad expanse of the nation between the West Coast and the Mississippi that is not dominated by big-city liberals.
Consider the following measures passed in the CRomnibus:
Grazing and Public Lands
- Blocks the administration/Senate proposal for new grazing fees on Bureau of Land Management ($6.5 million) and Forest Service ($5 million) lands
- Blocks the administration/Senate proposal for $48 million in new onshore oil and gas inspection fees
- Includes “Wildlands” bill language, continuing prohibition of the Department of the Interior administratively creating new wilderness areas
- Includes bill language extending by two years the requirement that litigants exhaust administrative review before litigating grazing issues in federal court
- Directs the BLM and Forest Service to make vacant grazing allotments available to a holder of a grazing permit or lease when lands covered by the holder of the permit or lease are unusable because of drought or wildfire
- Continues funding to reduce grazing permit backlogs
- Continues a $15 million conservation effort by the BLM to try to prevent the greater sage-grouse from being listed under the Endangered Species Act.
- Continues $1 million in funding to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves.
- Includes bill language that prohibits EPA from regulating lead content in ammunition or fishing tackle under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Directive Language
- National Ocean Policy – Directs that the president’s budget submission for FY 2016 identify all funding and associated actions proposed for the implementation of the National Ocean Policy.In addition, not later than 90 days after the date on which the president’s fiscal year 2016 budget request is submitted to the Congress, the president shall submit a comprehensive report to the committee identifying federal expenditures since fiscal year 2012, by agency and account, that have supported the development, administration, or implementation of the National Ocean Policy developed under Executive Order 13547
- State Wildlife Data – Directs Department of Interior and the Forest Service to engage state fish and wildlife agencies to utilize state and fish wildlife data as a source of information to inform land use, planning and related natural resource decisions involving wildlife. It's a provision mportant to Western governors
- Making Litigation Costs Transparent – Directs DOI, EPA and the Forest Service to provide the committee and make publicly available detailed Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) fee information
- Public Access – Directs DOI and the Forest Service to notify the committee in advance of any proposed project specifically intending to close an area to recreational shooting, hunting or fishing on a non-emergency basis for more than 30 days.
- Invasive Species – Responding to member concerns about too few dollars getting down on the ground, the agreement directs the National Invasive Species Council to submit an interagency crosscut budget for fiscal years 2013-2016.
- Protection of Personal Information – In January, the committee directed the General Accounting Office to investigate EPA’s mishandling of personally identifiable information. The committee will review GAO’s findings and recommendations when available and take additional actions in 2015 as appropriate.
- Lead Test Kit – Directs EPA to identify solutions for an in-home test kit that meets EPA criteria and reduces costs for consumers, remodelers and families. If EPA cannot identify a solution by the end of September, then EPA should solicit public comment on alternative criteria.
Finally, conservatives can claim victories in various environmental aspects of the spending bill in public policy areas that liberal Democrats typically like to control.
Environmental Protection Agency
- The bill provides $8.14 billion for the EPA, which is $60 million below the fiscal year 2014 enacted level.
- The bill reduces the topline funding level for the EPA for the fifth consecutive year.
- Overall, EPA funding has been reduced by $2.16 billion, or 21 percent, since Republicans regained control of the House in 2010.
- Since 2010, EPA personnel have been reduced by 2,359 full-time employees. It's the lowest level since 1989.
- The agreement rejects $66 million requested by the president for EPA regulatory programs.
Wildfire Fighting and Prevention
- In total, the bill provides $3.53 billion for wild land fire management activities within the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service, which is $223 million above the fiscal year 2014 enacted level (excluding the additional fire suppression funding that was included as repayment for fire transfers in fiscal year 2013). Fiscal year 2015 funding fully addresses wild land fire suppression operations for the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service at the 10-year average level.
- In addition, the bill provides $525.7 million for hazardous fuels management activities bill-wide, which is $74.2 million above the FY 2014 enacted level and $21 million above the budget request.
- The bill also provides an additional $65 million for the acquisition of aircraft for the next-generation air-tanker fleet to enhance firefighting mobility, effectiveness, efficiency and safety. Funding for the acquisition of new air-tankers is essential to support the need of the Forest Service to phase out antiquated aircraft.