The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on May 1, 2024, to review President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Subcommittee will hear from EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. As reported in our March 15, 2024, Monthly Federal Developments Memorandum, according to EPA’s March 11, 2024, statement on President Biden’s FY 2025 budget, the $11 billion proposed for EPA will:

• Advance Environmental Justice: An investment of nearly $1.5 billion in environmental justice-related programs supports the implementation of the President’s Justice40 commitment, ensuring at least 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy, as well as infrastructure work, reach disadvantaged communities, including rural and Tribal communities;
• Urgently Tackle Climate Change: The budget includes $2.9 billion in climate-related programs to support work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, building resilience in the face of climate impacts, expanding upon the GHG Reporting Program and Sinks Inventory, and implementing provisions in the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act to continue phasing out the production and import of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC);
• Invest in Clean Air: The FY 2025 budget provides a total of $1.5 billion for the Office of Air and Radiation, an increase of $690 million since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, to continue the development of national programs, policies, and regulations that control indoor and outdoor air pollution and radiation exposure;
• Support the President’s Goal of Replacing All Lead Pipes: The budget includes a total of $101 million for two EPA grant programs dedicated to remediating lead contamination in drinking water, an increase of $53 million over 2021 levels;
• Invest in Critical Water Infrastructure: The budget provides a total of $2.4 billion for the State Revolving Funds for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, an increase of more than $1 billion over the current levels;
• Safeguard against Dangerous Chemicals and Protecting Public Health and the Environment: The budget invests nearly $132 million, an increase of $49 million above current levels, to continue building core capacity and modernizing information technology and data software for the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Program. The budget also provides $208 million for Brownfields to support efforts to revitalize sites by awarding grants and providing technical assistance to Tribes, states, local communities, and other stakeholders to plan, inventory, assess, safely clean up, and reuse Brownfields sites. Additionally, the budget proposes approximately $170 million for EPA to continue addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through actions highlighted in EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap;
• Continue to Build Back Capacity to Carry Out EPA’s Core Mission: The budget adds more than 2,000 Full Time Equivalents (FTE) relative to the 2023 Operating Budget, for a total of more than 17,000 FTEs;
• Ensure Compliance with and Enforcement of the Nation’s Environmental Laws: The budget provides $260 million for civil enforcement efforts, including funding to prevent the illegal importation and use of HFCs in the United States. The budget also includes $172 million for compliance monitoring efforts, including funds to conduct inspections in underserved and overburdened communities and rebuilding the inspector corps, and $77 million for criminal enforcement efforts; and
• Support State and Tribal Partners: The budget continues to request additional resources to support directly EPA’s Tribal, state, and local partners with an investment of $1.5 billion in categorical grants, an increase of $304 million.