CRS InFocus Report: 'U.S. EPA Appropriations - FY2024 President’s Budget Request'

From Angela C. Jones: this CRS InFocus reprt (updated: 20 April 2023): 'U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Appropriations: FY2024 President’s Budget Request'.

Download CRS_InFocus_Report_USEPA_App_FY2024_Budget_20April2023

Since FY2006, Congress has funded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriation acts. For FY2024, the President requested $12.08 billion for EPA. The request was $1.95 billion (19.2%) greater than the $10.14 billion FY2023 regular enacted appropriations for EPA provided in Division G: Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Title II of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328), including rescissions. Division N, Title VII, of P.L. 117-328 provided $1.67 billion in supplemental appropriations for EPA for FY2023 in 2 of EPA’s 10 appropriations accounts. Division J, Title VI of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58), enacted on November 15, 2021, provided an additional $11.21 billion for EPA in emergency supplemental appropriations for FY2023 and $11.61 billion for FY2024. The FY2024 request was $202.43 million (1.7%) more than the FY2023 request of $11.88 billion for EPA. Requested and enacted appropriations for EPA since FY2015 are shown in Figure 1.

History of EPA Budget Authority
Figure 2 presents EPA discretionary budget authority since FY1976 in nominal dollars and adjusted for inflation. EPA’s budget authority is provided through annual appropriations and constitutes the amount of funding available to the agency for obligation in a fiscal year to carry out a specific purpose authorized in law.

EPA Appropriations Accounts
Funding for discretionary spending is annually appropriated to EPA among 10 statutory accounts established by Congress over time. These include State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG), Environmental Programs and Management (EPM), Hazardous Substance Superfund (“Superfund”), Science and Technology (S&T), Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program, Buildings and Facilities, Office of Inspector General, Inland Oil Spill Program, Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund, and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program accounts.

 

As indicated in Figure 3, the proportional distribution of funding among these accounts has remained similar for more than a decade, except for the fiscal years in which EPA received IIJA supplemental appropriations. The STAG and EPM accounts have received the largest share of funding, followed by the Superfund and S&T accounts. The STAG account funds grants for water infrastructure, brownfields site assessment and remediation, diesel emissions reduction, targeted airsheds, and “categorical” grants to delegated states and tribes for implementing environmental statutes. The EPM account funds additional grants and many cross-cutting agency activities. The Superfund account supports the environmental remediation of sites prioritized for federal attention. The S&T account funds research that supports agency regulatory decisions.

The President’s FY2024 request proposed funding increases for eight of EPA’s appropriations accounts and a decrease for one account, compared to FY2023 regular enacted appropriations. For example, in the larger accounts, the FY2024 request includes $5.86 billion for the STAG account (a $1.36 billion, or 30.3%, increase compared to FY2023 regular enacted appropriations) and $4.51 billion for the EPM account (a $1.22 billion, or 37.3%, increase compared to FY2023 regular enacted appropriations). The request proposed $355.86 million for the Superfund account, a $926.84 million (72.3%) decrease compared to FY2023 regular enacted appropriations. In its FY2024 Congressional Budget Justification, EPA noted that this decrease is due to the $3.5 billion provided in IIJA for Superfund and the availability of $2.5 billion in expected Superfund excise tax receipts available to EPA in FY2024. Selected EPA Programs and Activities Within the accounts discussed above, the FY2024 request is similar to FY2023 regular enacted amounts for several of EPA’s larger program areas. This includes $1.64 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and $1.13 billion for the Drinking Water SRF, both funded within the STAG account. The FY2024 request also proposes $682.05 million for water quality geographic programs within the EPM account. The FY2024 request proposed funding increases for some additional program areas above FY2023 enacted levels. For example, the FY2024 request proposed $369.11 million within the EPM account for environmental justice programs, a $266.95 million (261.3%) increase compared to FY2023 enacted appropriations of $102.16 million. Within the S&T account, the FY2024 request proposed $220.99 million for Clean Air and Climate programs ($76.44 million, or 52.9%, more than the FY2023 enacted amount of $144.55 million) and $137.84 million for Air, Climate and Energy Research ($37.39 million, or 37.2%, more than the FY2023 enacted amount of $100.45 million).The FY2024 request also proposed funding increases, compared to FY2023 enacted levels, for categorical grants within EPA’s STAG account for sewer overflow and stormwater reuse, reducing lead in drinking water, and diesel emissions reduction, among other grant programs.

EPA Staff Levels
The President’s FY2024 request proposed 17,077 full-time equivalent staff (FTEs) for EPA to administer federal environmental statutes in coordination with delegated states and tribes. This is a proposed increase of 1,961 FTEs over FY2023 levels of 15,116 FTEs, which would raise agency staffing to the highest level in the past 10 years, exceeding 17,055 FTEs in FY2012. Figure 4 presents FTEs as reported by EPA for FY2015-FY2024.

Selected Funding and Policy Issues
During the debate of EPA FY2024 appropriations, Congress may consider a range of funding and policy issues. Some Members have raised questions about the level of regular appropriations needed for certain EPA programs at this time, given the total of $60.89 billion provided in IIJA from FY2022 to FY2026 and the additional $41.46 billion provided for FY2022 in the budgetary measure known as the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169). The staffing and capacity of EPA to manage these relatively large funding increases compared to historic levels also may be an issue. Other policymakers and stakeholders contend that some EPA programs have historically been underfunded and that additional appropriations are warranted to carry out their respective purposes. Other potential issues include the level of funding for EPA activities to address potential risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the level of federal financial assistance to support local drinking water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, and the level of appropriations for the Superfund program to augment anticipated Superfund excise tax receipts.

Enjoy!

"There is no truth to the rumor that Tucker Carlson is going to be named dean of the journalism school. If only we could be so lucky! With the right sized gift, we will gladly name the school after him!" - @ass_deans

Comments

[EJ Hanford]

What is needed is another graph that depicts the effectiveness of spending all those dollars.