(WASHINGTON, DC) – The House
voted 230-197 on legislation H.R. 195 (115) Thursday
night to keep the government funded until Feb. 16, kicking the burden of a
shutdown to the Senate, where its prospects of passage are grim. Some Senate
Republicans have said they'd vote against the bill, report POLITICO's Burgess
Everett, John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade, and Democratic support is uncertain
without a deal on DACA. Republican leaders will now be forced to consider a
shorter stopgap that extends funding for just a few days, while leaders work to
strike a deal. Read more here.
WHAT IT MEANS: Federal
funding expires at midnight on Friday if Republican leaders can't secure 60
votes in the Senate, effectively shutting the government down for the first
time since 2013, when funding lapsed for 16 days. Here's a rundown on how that
will play out at energy agencies:
- At
the Interior Department: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tweeted Thursday
that the department would aim to keep public lands "as accessible as
safely possible under the law." Spokeswoman Heather Swift said areas that
can stay open with limited support should do so, while parts of parks, refuges
and other lands that need snow removal or regular maintenance would close.
But guidance for
the Army Corps of Engineers , which manages 2,800 lakes and
other recreation sites around the country offered no such reprieve. Interior's
oil and gas oversight will be running on lower gear, with 73 employees on call
at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for critical safety,
enforcement and emergency response needs, while about half of the Bureau
of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's 874 employees would remain on the
job, according to Interiorguidance. Locks, dams
and other water infrastructure run by the Army Corps and the Bureau of
Reclamation are to remain staffed.
- At
the Environmental Protection Agency: EPA's plan, updated in
December, calls for 781 of nearly 15,000 personnel to continue working, about
5.4 percent. That includes Administrator Scott Pruitt and his four
Senate-confirmed lieutenants, as well as 55 uniformed Public Health Service
officers authorized by law to continue working. Most of the headquarters offices
would be down to skeleton staffs.
A limited number of EPA's activities can continue. EPA is supposed to stop work at Superfund sites,
unless doing so would create an imminent threat - like a closed water treatment
plant allowing toxins into drinking waters. Lab workers may keep plants and
animal subjects alive and ensure instruments and facilities aren't damaged.
Employees with expertise can be brought back in the event of a chemical or oil
spill, radiological event or other disaster. It's unclear how the shutdown will
affect Pruitt's travel plans; he is expected to visit Japan and Israel next
week, although EPA will not confirm those plans. Even if Pruitt can continue,
it is likely some of the staff who would normally accompany him internationally
would be furloughed.
- At
the Energy Department: DOE's shutdown plan hasn't
been updated under the Trump administration, and queries to DOE and OMB went
unanswered Thursday. But the department was largely able to avoid furloughs
during the 2013 shutdown because most of its budget comes from
"multi-year" or "no-year" appropriations. DOE also employs
100,000-odd contractors and how things play out for them is hardly
straightforward. During the previous shutdown, for instance, some national labs
had enough funds to
keep running for more than two weeks while others could have operated for a
month.
- At
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: The nation's nuclear power
regulator has enough money to keep running for about seven business days,
according to an email sent to staff by the agency's executive director for
operations. That's the same as the last time around. If a
shutdown goes past that - like it did in 2013 - just 300 employees out of 3,400
will keep working. That includes the agency's three sitting commissioners, but
it's mostly the resident inspectors who oversee reactors around the country,
and enough staff for the initial response to a nuclear accident. The NRC
happened to update their plan, which notes
that it regularly has "no-year" funding, last month.
- At
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: The agency would keep 49
employees and 18 contractors on the clock, about 4.6 percent of its total
employees, if the agency's carryover funds are exhausted during a government
shutdown. In 2013, FERC weathered the two-week shutdown and then-FERC Chairman
Jon Wellinghoff suggested the
agency could go a full month before being reduced to "essential personnel."
As with all presidential appointees, FERC commissioners are among those who
would keep working. According to its shutdown plan ,
which was updated last month, FERC would maintain oversight of energy markets
at a "minimum level," continue to monitor electric reliability and
infrastructure, keep inspecting licensed hydroelectric and liquefied natural
gas projects, and postpone filing deadlines.
-
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission shutdown guidance, last
updated in December, says the agency will "adjudicate only those Federal
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 disputes that arise from a mine
emergency" or are otherwise necessary for public safety. Four employees
would remain on as "necessary to protect life and property," as well
as five presidential appointees. Fish and Wildlife Service guidance
can be found here and Office
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement here.
