Late this week, for the first time in six years, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted on passage of the FY2016 Interior-Environment spending measure, sending the bill to the full Senate.  

The bill is known to be controversial for its low-funding levels and its many policy riders aimed at stopping regulations proposed or finalized by the Obama Administration.  One of those policy riders included in the bill would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using any funds to implement the Waters of the U.S. rule.  The bill does, however, include bipartisan language authorizing the use of disaster funds for wildfire suppression beginning in FY2017.  The provision would stipulate the annual appropriation of the 10-year suppression costs, as is current practice, but would allow the U.S. Forest Service to access disaster funds in the event that the entire appropriation was used before the end of the fiscal year.  Final bill language is not yet available, but early indication is that Federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) might not have been funded in the bill.  As a reminder, the House bill did include $425 million for Federal PILT.  At this time, the fate of the spending bill in the Senate is uncertain.  Democrats have promised to block every spending measure on the Senate floor, and unless Republicans can convince six Democrats to vote for the measure, the bill will likely never make it to the floor for formal consideration.