The House and Senate have finally agreed to an omnibus appropriations package that will provide funding to the federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17).  For the past 7 months, the federal government has been funded by a Continuing Resolution that has kept the government funded at the same levels as FY16.  The FY17 deal will provide $1.1 trillion, a slight decrease in funding from the previous year, for discretionary spending on defense and domestic programs.  

Important to RCRC member counties, the Federal Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes program (PILT) will be funded in FY17 at $465 million.  Additionally, the omnibus package will fully fund the 10-year average for wildfire suppression through the U.S. Forest Service at $1.248 billion, while also providing an additional $400 million of emergency funds for wildfire suppression should the agency expend the full 10-year average amount.  The deal also includes $500 million for TIGER transportation grants.  Unfortunately, however, the Land and Water Conservation Fund received a $50 million reduction from FY16 levels ($450 million).  The bill did not fund the Secure Rural Schools program. 

The spending bill was passed by the House on Wednesday, and the Senate followed with a vote of approval on Thursday.  The spending package now goes to the President, who has announced he will sign the bill into law by Friday night’s CR deadline.