In this Bridge post, continued from our FY25 Appropriations Overview Part 1 blog, we’ll cover the House’s Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, and Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025—detailing relevant funding levels and sharing committee report highlights that impact the Earth and space sciences.

 

House Interior-Environment Appropriations bill and accompanying report.

 

United States Geological Survey (USGS)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
USGS Overall	$1,455.43	$1,578.30	$1,850.00	$1,374.39
Ecosystems	$299.38	$326.13	—	$291.78
Energy & Mineral Resources	$101.09	$120.33	—	$100.66
Natural Hazards	$198.64	$210.64	—	$190.57
Water Resources	$288.77	$309.55	—	$285.21
Core Science Systems	$273.22	$313.02	—	$283.22
Science Support	$105.00	$118.23	—	$89.47
Facilities	$184.10	$190.40	—	$133.49

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• Overall, the committee cuts the USGS by 5.8%.
• Funding for the USGS’ Environmental Health program is cut by 11%.
• USGS’ National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers receive a $3 million increase over FY2024 spending levels.
• The USGS Earthquake Hazards program receives an increase of $2 million. However, the Volcano Hazards, Global Seismographic Network, Geomagnetism, and Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources programs each receive an 11% cut to their funding.
• An increase of $3 million is provided for both the Water Availability and Use Science Program and the Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program. Of this increase, the committee directs USGS to use $2 million from each program for the Hydrologic Science Talent Pipeline to continue pursuing cooperative research agreements with emphasis on locations where the agency has pending hydrological facilities and where there are other Federal operational hydrologic resources.

 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
EPA Overall	$9,158.89	$10,993.65	—	$7,360.12
Science & Technology	$758.10	$1,009.96	$876.00	$522.50
Environmental Programs & Management	$3,178.03	$4,406.99	—	$2,250.45

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• Overall, the committee cuts the EPA’s funding by nearly $1.8 billion (~20%).
• Funding for the EPA’s Science and Technology account, which funds all EPA research, is cut by 31.1%.
• The Environmental Programs and Management account also receives a cut of 29.2% over FY2024 funding levels.
• $6 million is provided to investigate adverse health effects from exposure to harmful algal blooms (HABs) and cyanobacteria toxins and to develop methods to monitor, predict, and characterize blooms to allow for early action.
• The committee directs the EPA to provide a briefing on how the agency can improve wildfire smoke monitoring, and what resources may be required to integrate smoke and health data with existing wildfire data at the National Interagency Fire Center.

 

Included in the Interior-Environment bill are also several policy provisions that would impact the scientific enterprise:

• Section 443: Prohibits funds for certain Executive Orders relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Specifically, prohibits the use of funds for:
    • EO 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”
    • EO 14091, “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”
    • EO 14035, “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce”
  • Section 448: Prohibits funds for the American Climate Corps.
  • Section 449: Prohibits funds for eight executive orders related to Administration actions on climate change.
    • Specifically, prohibits the use of funds for:
      • EO 13990, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis”
      • EO 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”
      • EO 14013, “Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration”
      • EO 14030, “Climate-Related Financial Risk”
      • EO 14037, “Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks”
      • EO 14057, “Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability”
      • EO 14082, “Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”
      • EO 14096, “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All”

 

House Energy-Water Appropriations bill and accompanying report.

 

Department of Energy (DOE)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
DOE Overall	$50,246.75	$51,977.60		$49,935.00
Office of Science	$8,240.00	$8,583.00	$9,500	$8,390.00
Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy	$3,460.00	$3,118.00		$1,960.00
ARPA-E	$460.00	$450.00		$450.00

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• The committee cuts Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) by 43.35%. Additionally, the committee’s $1.96 billion recommendation includes EERE’s unspent $803,664,000 from recent supplemental bills. The committee only provides $1.156 billion in new appropriations.
• Within EERE, the House provides $50 million for Critical Minerals, including the Critical Minerals Institute.
• The committee provides a 1.82% increase for the Office of Science.
• Within the Office of Science, Congress directs DOE to establish a research initiative focused on carbon sequestration and geological computational science.
• The House provides no funding for Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) or Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiatives, two DOE Justice40 Initiatives.
• The committee also provides at least $245 million for quantum information sciences, including at least $120 million for research and $125 million for the five Quantum Centers.
• Basic Energy Sciences receives $2.6 billion, a .35% cut from FY2024, including $130 million for Energy Frontier Research Centers, $25 million for Batteries and Energy Storage Innovation Hub, and $20 million for the Fuels from Sunlight Innovation Hub.
• Biological and Environmental Research receives $850 million, a 5.56% cut from FY2024, including $20 million to support lose-dose radiation research; $118 million for the Bioenergy Research Centers; and $92 million for the Joint Genome Institute.
  • Additionally, the House provides $39 million for marine atmosphere cloud aerosol research and $3 million to continue a pilot program for observing marine aerosols, greenhouse gases, and other environmental factors on ocean vessels. The Environmental and Molecular Science laboratory receives $65 million.

 

Included in the Energy-Water bill are also several policy provisions that would impact the scientific enterprise:

• Section 312: Prohibits funds from being used to further develop, finalize, administer, implement, or enforce the proposed regulation by the Department of Energy titled ‘‘Clean Energy for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings’’ 87 Fed. Reg. 78382 (December 21, 2022).
• Section 314: Prohibits funds from being expended to support the Department of Energy Justice40 initiative as defined by or required by Executive Order 14008 of January 27, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 7619; relating to tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad).
• Section 506: Prohibits funds from being used to implement, administer, apply, enforce, or carry out the Equity Action Plan of the Department of Energy, or Executive Order 13985 of January 20, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. relating to advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the Federal Government), Executive Order 14035 of June 25, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 34593, relating to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Federal workforce), or Executive Order 14091 of February 16, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 10825, relating to further advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the Federal Government).
• Section 512: Prohibits funds from being used to develop or implement guidance related to the valuation of ecosystem and environmental services and natural assets in Federal regulatory decision-making, as directed by Executive Order 14072 of April 22, 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 24851, relating to strengthening the Nation’s forests, communities, and local economies).

House Labor-HHS Appropriations bill and accompanying report.

 

In our annual appropriations review blogs, we typically include a review of the funding levels and report highlights for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). However, the House Committee on Appropriations has incorporated a policy into the Labor-HHS appropriations bill to fully restructure the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under which NIEHS is housed. This restructuring, which involves a massive consolidation of NIH’s Institutes and Centers, including the consolidation of NIEHS and four other institutes/centers into a “National Institute on Health Sciences Research,” has made it very difficult to track and compare funding levels for NIEHS and its programs, so they will not be included in this blog.

 

Now that the House Committee on Appropriations has passed all twelve appropriations bills, the next step is for the full House of Representatives to debate and pass the bills, which as of this posting date five have already passed. Additionally, the Senate Committee on Appropriations must craft and pass their FY2025 appropriations bills. Stay tuned for our highlights of the Senate’s spending numbers in the coming weeks.