Early during the 113 th Congress, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 ( P.L. 113-6 ), enacted March 26, 2013, appropriated funding for the full fiscal year through September 30, 2013. Seven regular appropriations acts, including Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, which funds the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are covered by the full-year continuing appropriations provided in Division F of P.L. 113-6 .The discussion in this report focuses on the debate and actions regarding EPA FY2013 appropriations during the 112 th Congress preceding the enactment of P.L. 113-6 . For discussion of the full fiscal year funding for FY2013, see CRS Report R43207, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Appropriations for FY2013 in P.L. 113-6 , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]. On September 28, 2012, the President signed a continuing resolution ( P.L. 112-175 , H.J.Res. 117 ), the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, to provide appropriations for federal departments and agencies, including EPA, funded under each of the regular appropriations bills through March 27, 2013. Section 101(a) of P.L. 112-175 as enacted ( H.J.Res. 117 ) generally continued the rate of appropriations for operations of EPA and other departments and agencies at the FY2012 enacted level. Section 101(c) increased those amounts by 0.612%, with the exception of activities funded in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2012 ( P.L. 112-77 ). The continuing resolution ( P.L. 112-175 , H.J.Res. 117 ) also funded certain activities of the Department of Defense (DOD) designated as "Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism," and various departments and agencies for which specific funding levels are designated in the resolution itself. Section 116(a) of P.L. 112-175 ( H.J.Res. 117 ) required EPA and all other departments and agencies to submit a spending, expenditure, or operating plan to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations 30 days after enactment. Subsequent to the passage of H.J.Res. 117 by Congress, the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies released a draft bill on September 25, 2012, that proposed $8.52 billion for EPA for FY2013. The leadership intended the draft document to "... serve as a roadmap as discussions continue to finalize a responsible, balanced fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill." Prior to the passage of H.J.Res. 117 by Congress, the House Committee on Appropriations reported the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Act, 2013 ( H.R. 6091 , H.Rept. 112-589 ), on July 10, 2012. Title II of the House committee-reported bill proposed a total of $7.06 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2013, $1.29 billion (15.5%) less than the President's FY2013 request of $8.34 billion, and $1.39 billion (16.5%) less than the $8.45 billion (including applicable rescissions ) as enacted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 ( P.L. 112-74 ). Established in 1970 to consolidate federal pollution control responsibilities that had been divided among several federal agencies, EPA's responsibilities grew significantly as Congress enacted and later amended an increasing number of environmental laws as well as major amendments to these statutes. EPA's appropriations support the agency's primary responsibilities including the regulation of air quality, water quality, pesticides, and toxic substances; the management and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes; and the cleanup of environmental contamination. EPA also awards grants to assist states and local governments in complying with federal requirements to control pollution, and to help fund the implementation and enforcement of federal regulations delegated to the states. The adequacy of federal funds to assist states with these responsibilities has become a more contentious issue over time, as state revenues and spending generally have declined under recent economic conditions. Since FY2006, Congress has funded EPA programs and activities within the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. In the annual budget resolution that is intended to guide the annual appropriations process, EPA is included within Budget Function 300 for Natural Resources and Environment, along with the Department of the Interior and other agencies. The budget resolution establishes policies and assumptions for spending and revenue for each of the federal budget functions, but the discretionary funding made available to an agency for obligation is determined in the annual appropriations process itself. The statutory authorization of appropriations for many of the programs and activities administered by EPA has expired, but Congress has continued to fund them through the appropriations process. Although House and Senate rules generally do not allow the appropriation of funding that has not been authorized, these rules are subject to points of order and are not self-enforcing. Congress may appropriate funding for a program or activity for which the authorization of appropriations has expired, if no Member raises a point of order, or the rules are waived for consideration of a particular bill. Congress typically has done so to continue the appropriation of funding for EPA programs and activities for which the authorization of appropriations has expired, but has also not funded others. For FY2013 for example, the House committee proposed limiting funding for unauthorized programs by decreasing or terminating appropriations within the reported bill, including EPA's U.S. Mexico border grant and environmental education grant programs. In comparison to historical funding levels adjusted for inflation, the total appropriation in H.R. 6091 as reported for EPA for 2013 was less than appropriations enacted by Congress in most prior fiscal years since the agency was established in FY1970 (see Appendix A ). EPA's funding over the long term generally has reflected an increase in overall appropriations to fulfill a rising number of statutory responsibilities. Without adjusting for inflation, appropriations enacted for EPA have risen from about $1.0 billion when the agency was established in FY1970 to a peak of $14.86 billion in FY2009. The funding level that year included both the $7.64 billion in "regular" fiscal year appropriations provided in the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY2009 ( P.L. 111-8 ), and the $7.22 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA; P.L. 111-5 ). Table A -1 in Appendix A provides a history of enacted appropriations (not adjusted for inflation) by EPA appropriations account from FY2008 through FY2012, and includes the House committee-reported H.R. 6091 and the FY2013 President's budget request. Figure A -1 depicts historical funding trends (adjusted for inflation) for the agency back to FY1976, and Figure A -2 presents EPA's full-time-equivalent (FTE) employment ceiling for FY2001 through FY2013 (proposed and requested). In general, the term appropriations used in this report refers to total discretionary funds made available to EPA for obligation, including regular fiscal year and emergency supplemental appropriations, as well as any rescissions, transfers, and deferrals in a particular fiscal year, but excludes permanent or mandatory appropriations that are not subject to the annual appropriations process. This latter category of funding constitutes a very small portion of EPA's annual funding. The vast majority of the agency's annual funding consists of discretionary appropriations. Since FY1996, EPA's appropriations have been requested by the Administration and appropriated by Congress within eight statutory appropriations accounts. Appendix B briefly describes the scope and purpose of the activities funded within each of these accounts. In this report, the House Committee on Appropriations is the primary source for the FY2011 and FY2012 enacted amounts after rescissions, and the FY2013 amounts proposed by the House committee and in the President's budget request for FY2013 unless otherwise specified. FY2013 amounts for EPA provided in the continuing resolution as enacted ( P.L. 112-175 , H.J.Res. 117 ) are not reflected in this report for the agency as a whole nor by account and program activity, because the specific funding levels for most individual departments and agencies and their program activities are not available at this time. As noted above, Section 116(a) of P.L. 112-175 ( H.J.Res. 117 ) required EPA and all other departments and agencies to submit a spending, expenditure, or operating plan to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations 30 days after enactment. The FY2013 amounts for EPA included in the Senate draft bill released September 25, 2012, are also not included in the comparisons. Additional information regarding the FY2013 request was obtained from EPA's FY2013 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations (referred to throughout this report as the EPA FY2013 Congressional Justification), and the President's Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2013 , issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FY2010 enacted appropriations are from the conference report to accompany the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY2010 ( H.R. 2996 , H.Rept. 111-316 , pp. 240–244). With the exception of the historical funding presented in Figure A -1 in Appendix A , the enacted appropriations for prior fiscal years presented throughout this report have not been adjusted for inflation. In some cases, small increases above the prior-year funding level may reflect a decrease in real dollar values when adjusted for inflation.