Republicans lard funding bill with anti-EPA riders

Since Republicans began running the House in 2011, they have attached many policy riders into appropriations bills, to very little effect because the Senate and White House are controlled by Democrats. But with the GOP freshly angered at the Environmental Protection Agency proposals, the House Appropriations Committee has upped the ante.

The panel approved a $30.2 billion natural-resources bill Tuesday after adding "dozens of Republican riders challenging President Barack Obama’s environmental and wildlife agenda," David Rogers reports for Politico. EPA "was the chief target, together with its proposed rule to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. But the list stretched to include trade in African ivory, the future of the Western sage grouse and even a minor EPA rule seeking to garnish the wages of 14 individuals said to owe the government an estimated $228,000."

Ranking Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of New York called the package a “demonstration of solidarity with climate change deniers and the coal industry,” but Chairman Hal Rogers of Appalachian Kentucky said the White House is “hell bent on adding layer after layer of regulatory red tape to the economy” and hurting his state's coal industry. (Read more)