109th Congress

Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2006

P.L. 109-54 (H.R. 2361)

Impact of Public Law

On August 2, 2005, the President signed into law H.R. 2361, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2006. Included in this legislation is funding for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is authorized in Section 311(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to conduct certain research and worker training activities associated with the Nation's Hazardous Substance Superfund program. This NIEHS program was previously funded under the Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD; upon the reorganization of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees, which occurred at the beginning of the 109th Congress, it is now funded by the newly created Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies in the House and the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies in the Senate. P.L. 109-54 provides $80.289 million for necessary expenses for NIEHS.

Legislative History

On March 29, 2005, Mary Gant of NIEHS provided a briefing for staff to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies on the NIEHS Superfund program. In previous years, the Subcommittee held hearings on the NIEHS request with the Director of NIEHS as the witness, but the reorganization changed the timing for the Subcommittee activities, and the Subcommittee staff requested an informal briefing on NIEHS rather than a hearing. The staff in attendance included House and Senate staff, including Loretta Beaumont, Majority Clerk, and Mike Stephens, Minority Clerk, of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies and Bruce Evans, Majority Clerk, and Peter Kiefhaber, Minority Clerk, of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies.

On May 19, the House passed H.R. 2361 by a vote of 329 to 89. This legislation included $80.289 million for NIEHS, an increase of $447,000 above the fiscal year 2005 level. On June 22, the Senate passed its version of the bill, providing the same amount of funding as the House. The Conference Report passed the House on July 28 and the Senate on July 29. The President signed the bill into law on August 2, 2005, as P.L. 109-54.