Washington, DC — Today, Congress passed a $147.5 billion “minibus” spending package that contains the FY19 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The National Wildlife Federation lauded the deal, which passed without new damaging anti-environment riders and proposed budget cuts.

Jan Goldman-Carter, senior director of water resources at the National Wildlife Federation, issued the following statement:

“This is a clean, bipartisan piece of legislation that protects our nation’s wildlife, waters, and outdoor heritage.

“We applaud this return to regular order and the renewed commitment to passing appropriations bills that do not roll back public health and environmental protections. The agreement rejects several House riders that aimed to undermine or weaken the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, including an attempt to legislatively repeal the commonsense Clean Water Rule.

“While we are pleased with the continued commitment to advancing Everglades restoration, federal funding beyond that allocated in this agreement will ultimately be necessary to restore natural flows to the Everglades and away from the coasts, preventing the recurring toxic algae disasters we have seen in recent years. This concept has been on the books for two decades — Congress needs to match Florida’s funding commitment and get this much-needed project off the drawing board and in the ground.”

Additional Resources:

NWF's statement on House Energy & Water Bill – May 15, 2018