The House Appropriations Committee passed the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill last month and with it seeks to double Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant funds to $100 million for fiscal year 2017.
The National School Transportation Association, which favors the House version over the Senate proposal of only $25 million passed in the Energy Bill in April, commented this week that it could prove difficult for Congress to pass a final version due to “major policy issues, jurisdictional squabbles with other committees and the extremely short legislative schedule in a presidential election year.”
As a result, NSTA added, free-standing but related DERA reauthorization bills have been introduced by in the Senate by Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and in the House by Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Tom Reed (R-NY) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Both seek $100 million in funding.
“Because the program continues to be highly effective and provides significant funding for school bus replacements and retrofits, NSTA members are urged to contact their Representatives in the House to ask that they co-sponsor the bill,” NSTA advised on Aug. 3.
Meanwhile, NSTA observed that the House Appropriations Committee bill passed July 11 funds the EPA at $7.98 billion, a reduction of $164 million below the fiscal year 2016 enacted level and $291 million below President Obama’s budget request. Within this total, the EPA’s regulatory programs are reduced by $43 million (6 percent) below the current level and $187 million (21 percent) below the President’s request.
The legislation also rejects the President’s proposed increase in staffing, holding the EPA to the current capacity of 15,000 positions, the lowest since 1989.
Just two lines are dedicated to the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act in the 154-page fiscal year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill.
The current DERA program runs through the end of next month.
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