R48267 — Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: Overview of FY2025 Appropriations

The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill—often called the Interior bill—contains funding for about three dozen agencies and entities. They include most of the Department of the Interior and agencies within other departments, such as the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) and the Indian Health Service (Department of Health and Human Services). The bill also provides funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, arts and cultural agencies, and other entities. Perennial issues for Congress include determining the amount, terms, and conditions of funding for agencies and programs. From the start of FY2025 on October 1, 2024, until March 15, 2025, Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies were funded at FY2024 levels, with certain exceptions, under short-term continuing appropriations resolutions. FY2025 full-year appropriations of $43.37 billion for the Interior bill were provided in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (P.L. 119-4), enacted on March 15, 2025. Most agencies and entities in the Interior bill received FY2025 appropriations at the FY2024 level, and some received lower appropriations in FY2025 than in FY2024. However, the total FY2025 appropriation was $2.04 billion (4.9%) more than the FY2024 total of $41.33 billion; this was due in part to increases for DOI wildland fire management, the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Indian Health Service, among other agencies and programs. Relative to other FY2025 proposed totals, the FY2025 appropriations law contained $666.4 million (1.6%) more than President Biden’s FY2025 request of $42.71 billion, $1.30 billion (3.1%) more than the FY2025 House-passed amount of $42.07 billion, and $1.56 billion (3.5%) less than the FY2025 Senate Appropriations Committee-reported total of $44.93 billion. The $43.37 billion was broken out unevenly across the three major titles in the FY2025 Interior bill, as is typically the case. DOI agencies in Title I received $15.25 billion (35.2% of the total). EPA, funded in Title II of the bill, received $9.14 billion (21.1% of the total). For about two dozen agencies and other entities funded in Title III, the FY2025 appropriations law contained $18.98 billion (43.8% of the total). In earlier action on FY2025 appropriations, on July 24, 2024, the House passed H.R. 8998 with $42.07 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. On July 25, 2024, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported S. 4802 with $44.93 billion. The two bills, like the President’s FY2025 request, included $2.75 billion for certain wildfire suppression activities under an adjustment to discretionary spending limits, the maximum available for FY2025. The FY2024 total appropriation of $41.33 billion for the Interior bill (P.L. 118-42, Division E) had included $2.65 billion (the FY2024 maximum) under the discretionary cap adjustment for wildfire suppression. It can be challenging to make comparisons between FY2024 and FY2025 total appropriations for agencies and accounts that receive funding in the annual Interior bill. This is due to advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, rescissions of prior year appropriations, supplemental appropriations in laws other than the annual appropriations laws, mandatory appropriations provided to agencies under laws within the jurisdiction of authorizing committees, and other variables. Including some or all of these variables would provide different comparisons between FY2024 and FY2025 appropriations for agencies and accounts that receive funding in the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Appropriations for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, by Major Title, FY2024-FY2025 / Source: Prepared by CRS with data from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Notes: Amounts shown on the bars may not sum to totals shown due to rounding. In general, amounts represent regular annual appropriations for the pertinent fiscal year (FY2024 or FY2025), rescissions of prior year appropriations, and advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service (in Title III). With regard to rescissions, the FY2024 enacted total of $41.33 billion reflects total rescissions of $563.0 million under three separate titles of the law: $27.5 million in Title I, $1.5 million in Title II, and $534.0 million in Title IV. The FY2025 House-passed total of $42.07 billion reflects $55.0 million in rescissions in Title IV.

Curated by CRS — every bill listed in this report's relatedMaterials. Edge type cited_in_report, gold confidence.

• HR 5371 — Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affai · 119th Cong
• HR 4754 — Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 · 119th Cong
• S 2882 — Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026 · 119th Cong
• S 2431 — Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 · 119th Cong
• HR 8998 — Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 · 118th Cong
• S 4802 — Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 · 118th Cong