The President submitted his budget for FY2000 on February 1, 1999. In it was $22.0 billion for energyand water development programs. The request was $800million larger than the FY1999 appropriation of $21.2 billion. The Senate Subcommittee marked up the bill, S. 1186 , on May 25. As reported outby the full Appropriations Committee May 27 ( S.Rept. 106-58 ), the bill's appropriation totaled $21.7 billion. TheSenate passed S. 1186 on June 16. The House Appropriations Committee reported out a $20.4 billion bill on July 20. The House passed the bill( H.R. 2605 ) July 27. House-SenateConference reached an agreement to spend $21.3 billion (including scorekeeping adjustments of $450 million) September 24. The bill was signed ( P.L. 106-60 )by the President September 29, 1999. Table 1. Status of Energy and Water Appropriations,FY2000 The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill includes funding for civil projects of the Army Corpsof Engineers, the Department of the Interior'sBureau of Reclamation, most of the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies, includingthe Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) andthe Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Administration requested $22 billion for these programs forFY2000, compared with $21.2 billion appropriatedfor FY1999. As with other FY2000 appropriations bills, the Energy and Water Subcommittees had difficulty meeting the spending allocations assigned them under Section 302(b) of the Budget Act. In the Senate, the allocation was $21.28 billion; the House limit originally was significantlylower at $19.39 billion, but by the time theHouse bill was reported out by the Appropriations Committee the allowance was increased about $800 million. For the Corps of Engineers, the Administration requested $3.9 billion in FY2000, about the same as appropriated in FY1999. The Senate bill, S. 1186 , would have reduced this figure to $3.76 billion, with most of the reductions in the construction budget. TheHouse bill ( H.R. 2605 )recommended raising the Corps appropriation to $4.19 billion. The Bureau of Reclamation would have receivedan increase of more than 10% (excluding offsets),to $857 million. The Senate bill would have reduced this to $761 million, below the FY1999 level. The Houserecommendation was $785 million. The Houseand Senate Conference settled on $4.14 billion for the Corps of Engineers and $769.3 million for the Bureau ofReclamation. DOE programs funded by the Senate bill would have risen about 4% to $17.1 billion, about what the Administration requested. The major activities in the DOEbudget are research and development on energy and general science, environmental cleanup, and nuclear weaponsprograms. The House would have reducedfunding for these programs to $15.6 billion, with most of the cuts coming in the cleanup and weapons programs. The House and Senate Conference agreed tofund DOE programs at $16.6 billion. The remaining $1.2 billion of DOE's FY2000 net appropriations request (forfossil fuels programs, energy efficiency, andenergy statistics) is included in the Interior and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Table 2. Energy and Water Development Appropriations, FY1993 to FY2000 (budget authority inbillions of current dollars) * *These figures represent current dollars, exclude permanent budget authorities, and reflect rescissions. Table 2 includes FY2000 budget request figures and budget totals for energy and water appropriations enacted for FY1993 to FY1999. Tables 3-7 provide budgetdetails for Title I (Corps of Engineers), Title II (Department of the Interior), Title III (Department of Energy) andTitle IV (independent agencies) for FY1998 -FY2000. The Clinton Administration was seeking a slight increase for civil projects of the Army Corps of Engineers inFY2000, in contrast to the substantial cuts proposedduring the previous two budget cycles that were largely rejected by Congress. The $3.9 billion request would havefunded 19 new construction starts involvingport improvements, navigation, flood control, and environmental projects. The Senate approved $3.7 billion, whilethe House supported $4.2 billion. Theconference agreement funds the Corps of Engineers for $4.14 billion. Major initiatives in the Corps request included a proposed $951 million Harbor Services Fund for port improvements and harbor maintenance, and $25 million forthe "Challenge 21" river restoration and flood mitigation program. A $10 million increase was proposed for theFormerly Utilized Sites Remedial ActionProgram (FUSRAP), which was transferred from DOE in FY1998. The program cleans up contamination at oldindustrial sites that processed nuclear materialsfor defense purposes. Table 3. Energy and Water Development Appropriations Title I: Corps of Engineers (in millions ofdollars) Funding for Corps of Engineers civil programs is often a contentious issue between the Administration and the Congress, with final appropriations bills typicallyfunding more projects than requested. For FY1998, for example, the Congress added $270 million (7%) to the$3.63 billion requested by the Administration. Similarly, the FY1999 bill as passed included a total of $3.86 billion for the Corps, $638 million (20%) more thanrequested. The Administration's FY2000 Corps request was somewhat less controversial. At $3.9 billion it was slightly above the last year's appropriation, and it provided$80 million for 19 new construction starts (including numerous port improvements, navigation, flood control andenvironmental projects) and the proposedChallenge 21 River Restoration and Flood Mitigation initiative at $25 million. A newly-proposed Harbor Services Fund would have provided for both port improvements and harbor maintenance -- $693 million requested under the operationand maintenance account, and $258 million requested for construction. The Harbor Services Fund would havereplaced the existing Harbor Maintenance TrustFund with a new fund from a proposed Harbor Services User Fee (which would replace the existing HarborMaintenance Tax, part of which was declaredunconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998). The Senate bill reduced Corps funding by more than $200 million below the Administration's request. Most of the cuts would have come in the constructionbudget. The Senate Appropriations Committee report said it was attempting to provide continuity of previouslyfunded construction with specified "stretchingout" in contracting or completion schedules. The Senate also declined to initiate the Challenge 21 proposal; nor didit modify harbor maintenance through theappropriations language. The House bill increased the Corps funding by more than $280 million above the Administration's request, including increases in most of the Corps programs. However, the House also declined to initiate the Challenge 21 proposal and did not modify harbor maintenancethrough appropriations language. Policy issues related to wetlands regulatory programs were addressed in the final bill. As approved by the House on July 27, the bill included two such provisions. One would require the Corps to modify a recently-established administrative appeals process for certain Corpsregulatory decisions to allow unsuccessfulappellants to directly challenge the decisions in court. The Administration supported creation of an administrativeappeals process but opposed this provision,saying that it would impose excessive burdens on the Corps and the courts. Landowner and developer groupsfavored it. The conference report ( H.Rept. 106-336 )deleted the House language that would have made certain administrative decisions appealable to federal courts priorto a final permit decision. It included Senatelanguage providing that $5 million in additional funds for the Corps' regulatory program in FY2000 shall be usedto establish an administrative process forappeals of jurisdictional determinations by the Corps (i.e., whether an area contains wetlands that are subject toCorps permitting requirements). The House bill also included a provision to require the Corps to submit a study on the workload impact andcompliance costs of replacement permits for"nationwide permit 26" (NWP 26) 30 days prior to publication of the final permits, but no later than December 30,1999. The NWP 26 program permits certainactivities to fill wetlands of less than 3 acres and has been highly controversial with environmental and conservationgroups. The Corps has proposed programchanges to restrict use of NWP 26 which are due to take effect by December 30, 1999. Landowner and developergroups supported the House-passed provision,but the Administration opposed it, saying that the study was unnecessary and, even with a Dec. 30 deadline, wouldincrease wetlands loss in the nation by delayingissuance of replacement permits. The conference report on H.R. 2605 modified the House-passed languageby directing the Corps to study theworkload impacts and costs of compliance of proposed replacement permits, but dropped language that would haverequired submission of a report to Congressbefore publication of final permits. (For more information, see CRS Issue Brief IB97014, WetlandIssues , and CRS Report 97-223 , Nationwide Permits forWetlands Projects: Permit 26 and Other Issues and Controversies .) For the Department of the Interior, the Energy and Water Development bill provides funding for the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah ProjectCompletion Account. The Administration's FY2000 request for the Bureau of Reclamation was up more than 10%from the FY1999 appropriation (excluding a$37 million offset involving the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund). The Administration proposed and thefinal bill included no new funding for thecontroversial Animas-La Plata water supply project in Colorado, and instead proposed allocating $3 million (witha recommendation of $2 million) from previousappropriations for preconstruction activities. Table 4.