The House and Senate each approved a short-term funding extension Thursday, averting a partial government shutdown this weekend and teeing up a six-bill spending package next week that is expected to slash funding for EPA and the Department of the Interior.
Ahead of the anticipated release of the package’s final text this weekend, appropriators expressed grave disappointment about upcoming cuts to federal land and environment programs.
“Bottom line is it was a really, really, really hard budget,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), ranking member on the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.
“Nobody’s gonna like our Interior budget because we had to cut — and we had to cut a lot,” she said.