Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies:FY2012 Appropriations

Carol Hardy Vincent, Coordinator
Specialist in Natural Resources Policy

The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), except for the Bureau of Reclamation, and for agencies within other departments—including the Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the Department of Health and Human Services. It also includes funding for arts and cultural agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous other entities.

The President requested $31.34 billion for FY2012 for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, a $1.73 billion (5.9%) increase over the FY2011 appropriation of $29.61 billion. The President proposed increases for many of the major agencies funded by the bill, including the following: 

• $554.6 million (14%) for the Indian Health Service, 
• $290.9 million (3%) for the Environmental Protection Agency, 
• $280.4 million (11%) for the National Park Service, 
• $248.2 million (5%) for the Forest Service, 
• $191.5 million (13%) for the Fish and Wildlife Service, and 
• $101.9 million (13%) for the Smithsonian Institution. 

The President proposed fewer decreases for major agencies in the bill, and these decreases tended to be smaller than the increases requested for other agencies. Among the decreases were the following: 

• $93.4 million (4%) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
• $16.9 million (5%) for the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, and 
• $16.6 million (10%) for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. 

The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies have held hearings on the FY2012 agency budget requests. No bill to fund Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY2012 has been introduced to date. Congress typically debates a variety of funding and policy issues when considering each year’s appropriations legislation. These issues have included energy development onshore and offshore, wildland fire fighting, royalty relief, Indian trust fund management, climate change, DOI science programs, and wild horse and burro management. Other issues have included appropriate funding levels for Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement and education; Indian Health Service construction and contract health services; wastewater/drinking water needs; the arts; land acquisition through the Land and Water Conservation Fund; and the Superfund program.


Date of Report: June 30, 2011
Number of Pages: 61
Order Number: R41896
Price: $29.95

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