On August 2, 2005, the President signed the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY2006 ( P.L. 109-54 , H.R. 2361 ). Title II of P.L. 109-54 provided $7.73 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), subject to an across-the-board rescission of 0.476%. The President signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for FY2006 ( P.L. 109-148 , H.R. 2863 ) on December 30, 2005, which included a 1% government-wide rescission, further reducing EPA's final appropriation. Even after both rescissions, the FY2006 appropriation for EPA is an increase above the Administration's request of $7.52 billion, but a decrease below the FY2005 appropriation of $8.03 billion. There were varying degrees of interest in specific programs and activities funded within EPA's appropriation. Among the prominent issues in the debate over the Interior bill were the adequacy of funding for wastewater infrastructure, cleanup of hazardous waste sites under the Superfund program, cleanup of commercial and industrial sites referred to as brownfields, EPA's homeland security activities, and "congressional project priorities" or earmarks. In addition to funding, another issue receiving significant attention was EPA's use and consideration of intentional human dosing studies for determining potential human health risks from exposure to pesticides. The following sections explain the methodology used in this report for funding comparisons, provide background information on the history and mission of EPA, include a brief overview of the President's FY2006 budget request for EPA, discuss congressional action on appropriations in the first session of the 109 th Congress, and examine funding levels and relevant issues for selected programs and activities by EPA appropriations account. (For a discussion of broader issues relevant to the statutes and programs that EPA administers, see CRS Issue Brief IB10146, Environmental Protection Issues in the 109 th Congress . For a discussion of FY2005 funding, see CRS Report RL32441, Environmental Protection Agency: Appropriations for FY2005 (pdf).) In general, the term appropriations used in this report refers to total funds available, including regular annual and supplemental appropriations, as well as rescissions, transfers, and deferrals, but excludes permanent budget authorities. FY2006 appropriations presented in this report have not been adjusted to account for the 0.476% rescission required in P.L. 109-54 , nor for the 1% government-wide rescission required in P.L. 109-148 . The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is responsible for applying rescissions to the budgets of affected agencies, including EPA, adjusting the amounts that Congress indicates in final appropriations bills and accompanying reports. Funding increases and decreases noted in this report are generally calculated based on comparisons among final FY2006 funding levels prior to the two rescissions above, House and Senate amounts prior to conference, the Administration's FY2006 request, and appropriations enacted for FY2005. Requested and appropriated funding amounts presented throughout this report have not been adjusted for inflation. In some cases, small increases above the previous year funding may actually reflect a decrease when adjusted for inflation. FY2006 appropriations amounts indicated in this report are from the final bill and conference report on H.R. 2361 and from the House- and Senate-passed versions of this bill and their accompanying reports. The House Committee on Appropriations is the primary source of the funding figures used throughout this report for FY2005 enacted amounts and the Administration's FY2006 request. Other sources of information include the Congressional Record, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FY2006 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations (referred to throughout this report as the EPA FY2006 budget justification), and OMB's Budget of the U.S. Government: FY2006 . The Nixon Administration established EPA in 1970 in response to growing public concern about environmental pollution, consolidating federal pollution control responsibilities that had been divided among several agencies. EPA's responsibilities have grown as Congress has enacted an increasing number of environmental laws, as well as major amendments to these statutes, over three decades. Annual appropriations provide the funds necessary for EPA to carry out its responsibilities under these laws, such as the regulation of air and water quality, use of pesticides and toxic substances, management and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes, and cleanup of environmental contamination. EPA also awards grants to assist state, tribal, and local governments in controlling pollution in order to comply with federal laws. (For discussion of these laws, see CRS Report RL30798, Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ). Figure 1 , below, provides a history of discretionary budget authority for EPA from FY1970 through FY2006, both adjusted and not adjusted for inflation. EPA's funding trends over the history of the agency generally reflect the evolution of statutory responsibilities and authorities enacted by Congress in response to a range of environmental concerns. In terms of the overall federal budget, EPA's annual appropriation has represented a relatively small portion of total discretionary budget authority (just under 1% in recent years). EPA's funding has grown from $1.0 billion when EPA was established in FY1970 to a high of $8.4 billion in FY2004. President Bush submitted his initial FY2006 budget request to Congress on February 7, 2005. The request included $7.52 billion for EPA, $506 million less than the $8.03 billion FY2005 appropriation. As in past years, the total request was divided among eight different accounts to which Congress traditionally allocates funding in the annual appropriations bills, listed in Table 2 below. EPA also presented its budget request in the form of performance goals, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA, P.L. 103-62 ). EPA reduced its number of goals from 10 to 5 in its FY2005 budget justification. The agency presented its FY2006 justification according to these same five goals: Goal 1: Clean Air and Global Climate Change; Goal 2: Clean and Safe Water; Goal 3: Land Preservation and Restoration; Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems; and Goal 5: Compliance and Environmental Stewardship. Related to these goals, the Administration also uses OMB's Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to measure the performance of federal programs. OMB issued PART ratings for 32 EPA programs, which were used in the formulation of the Administration's FY2006 request. (For further discussion of the PART, see CRS Report RS21416, The President ' s Management Agenda: A Brief Introduction .) The largest proposed decrease in the President's initial request for EPA was for grants to states for wastewater infrastructure projects. The President submitted a subsequent request on October 28, 2005, to rescind $166 million from EPA's FY2006 appropriation for wastewater infrastructure projects funded through the clean water State Revolving Fund (SRF). As discussed later, the rescission would have taken away nearly all of the increase that Congress provided for this purpose, reducing the appropriation close to what the Administration requested in February. In addition to proposed reductions for some ongoing programs, the President's FY2006 budget did not include funding designated by Congress in FY2005 for individual projects, locations, or institutions (often referred to as "earmarked funding") within EPA's appropriations accounts. This is consistent with past Administrations' budget requests. According to OMB, the President's FY2006 budget did not include $489 million appropriated in FY2005 for "unrequested projects." More than half of these appropriated funds were for water infrastructure projects. In the FY2006 appropriation, Congress restored earmarked funding for many of these projects and designated new earmarked funding for others as well. Although the President's budget proposed decreases for some programs relative to FY2005, it included steady or increased funding for other activities, such as cleanup of Superfund sites, cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields, homeland security, and several grant programs for scientific research on human health effects. The Administration submitted a subsequent request on October 28, 2005, that would have increased overall funds available to EPA by $15 million through a reallocation of emergency spending for disaster relief in Gulf Coast states affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, of which Congress reallocated $8 million to EPA in the FY2006 Defense appropriations bill. This reallocated funding was targeted for EPA's response to leaking underground tanks in hurricane-affected areas. Early in the 109 th Congress, the House Appropriations Committee reduced the number of its subcommittees from 13 to 10. The Senate Appropriations Committee also approved the elimination of one of its subcommittees, leaving 12. Both reorganizations eliminated the Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development (VA-HUD), and Independent Agencies subcommittee, which historically had funding jurisdiction over EPA. As a result of this reorganization, the House and Senate incorporated EPA's funding within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior subcommittee, beginning with the FY2006 appropriation. In the first session, the House and Senate passed the conference agreement on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill for FY2006 ( H.R. 2361 , hereafter referred to as the "Interior bill"). The President signed the final bill into law ( P.L. 109-54 ) on August 2, 2005. Funding for EPA was included in Title II. Table 1 indicates floor action in both chambers followed by enactment. Title II of P.L. 109-54 provided $7.73 billion for EPA, subject to an across-the-board rescission of 0.476%.