House Appropriators Introduce Three-Week Continuing Resolution; Would Cut $6 Billion

House Republicans this afternoon (March 11) introduced a Continuing Resolution (CR) proposal to fund the Federal government, largely at current spending rates, for three additional weeks beyond March 18 (until April 8) in a measure that would cut $6 billion in spending by reducing or eliminating 25 programs (cutting $3.5 billion) and by cutting earmarked funding that was automatically renewed in the CR approved by the Congress in December 2010 (cutting $2.6 billion).  The full text of the legislation (H.J. Res 48) can be read here (for an earlier background story, see here).

According to a House Appropriations Committee press release, the CR would terminate the following earmarks (and the indicated funding cuts) that are either directly or indirectly related to programs associated with water body (such as the Mississippi River Basin) restoration and conservation:

Agriculture

• $37 million – Natural Resources Conservation Service – Conservation Operations
• $30 million – Natural Resources Conservation Service – Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations
• $115 million – Agriculture Research Service
• $122 million – National Institute of Food and Agriculture - Research and Education
• $11 million – National Institute of Food and Agriculture - Extension

 Commerce/Justice/Science

• $99 million – NOAA – Operations, Research, and Facilities
• $18 million – NOAA – Procurement Acquisition and Construction

 Interior

• $1 million – Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - Management of Lands and Resources
• $2 million – BLM - Construction
• $3 million – BLM - Land Acquisition
• $12 million – Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) – Resource Management
• $10 million – FWS – Construction
• $22 million – FWS – Land Acquisition
• $17 million – NPS – Land Acquisition
• $7 million – U.S. Geological Survey – Surveys, Investigations, and Research
• $6 million – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Science and Technology
• $26 million – EPA – Environmental Programs and Management
• $1 million – EPA – Buildings and Facilities
• $172 million – EPA – Tribal Assistance Grants
• $0.4 million – Forest Service (FS) – Forest and Rangeland Research
• $6 million – FS – State and Private Forestry
• $1 million – FS – National Forest System
• $7 million – FS – Capital Improvement and Maintenance
• $30 million – FS – Land Acquisition
• $6 million – FS – Wildland Fire Management