5 takeaways from the Senate’s Interior-EPA spending bill

By Garrett Downs, Kevin Bogardus | 07/26/2024 07:04 AM EDT

It has big wins for land and water conservation and environmental justice.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Interior and the Environment Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this year. They both praised fiscal 2025 legislation during a markup Thursday. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Senate Appropriators on Thursday approved their bill to fund the Interior Department and EPA, setting up a high-stakes standoff with the House as the two chambers remain far apart on spending levels and policy riders.

The Senate bill breezed through the committee with bipartisan praise, a marked contrast to the House’s grueling hours-long markup in which Democrats lambasted the GOP-led measure.

The Senate set a $44.6 billion top-line spending total for the agencies, a nearly $6 billion increase over the $38.5 billion Interior-EPA package the House passed on Wednesday night along party lines,

Advertisement

“Our effort protects America’s beautiful public lands, honors our trust and treaty obligations to tribes, addresses staffing shortages at our national parks and helps combat the ever-growing threat of wildfires, including by giving permanent raises for wildland firefighters,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Interior-EPA Appropriations Subcommittee.

GET FULL ACCESS