(WASHINGTON, DC) -- Conference negotiators unveiled
details of a final deal reached for the first "minibus" package, H.R.
5895 (115) that will come up for a vote later this week. The three-bill
package that includes the Energy-Water title is expected to easily clear both
chambers and reach the president's desk before the Sept. 30 deadline, Pro's
Sarah Ferris reports
. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the measure when they return Wednesday,
although Hurricane Florence could affect that timing.
So, what's inside the roughly $147 billion measure? Negotiators rejected
some of Trump's cuts and agreed to boost funding for nuclear security efforts
and energy research. The Energy-Water portion of the bill contains $44.6
billion — $1.4 billion above current levels and $8.1 billion above the
president's budget request, Sarah reports. Democrats mostly fought off partisan
policy provisions that House Republicans had put forth, such as allowing
firearms to be used on Army Corps of Engineers lands.
Specifically, Pro's
Annie Snider reports,
negotiators blocked GOP efforts to overturn a court decision requiring hydropower
dams to be operated for the benefit of endangered salmon, but they also denied
immediate funding for green groups' ultimate goal of removing the dams.
Elsewhere in the bill, Congress avoided Trump's call to nix the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy program and instead gave the popular program
$366 million, $12.7 million more than it got fiscal 2018, Pro's Darius Dixon reports
. The bill's conference report does not include funding for the Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste project yet again, which House Republicans have been
pushing. Read the Energy-Water summary
and the one-pager.
