The House and Senate will vote this week on a sweeping package of six final fiscal 2024 spending bills that propose to preserve or increase funding for some energy, environment and natural resources programs while slashing funding for others.
Overall, the $459 billion “minibus” contains wins and losses for both Democrats and Republicans. Both parties had spent months debating spending levels and riders for the package that will fund EPA, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy and other agencies through September.
Strict caps set by last year’s bipartisan debt ceiling agreement limited overall discretionary spending, leaving Democrats wishing for higher funding levels as conservatives remain concerned about the deficit.
Still, Democrats touted the fact that they denied the most extreme policy riders and deep cuts conservatives had demanded. Republicans took a victory lap on agency budgets they succeeded in slashing — including a 10 percent cut to EPA.
