DEFENSE SPENDING BILL INCLUDES $80 MILLION CUT TO FY06 EPA PROGRAMS

The stalled Defense Department appropriations bill, which became a vehicle for an effort to open an Arctic wildlife refuge to oil and gas drilling, also includes a 1 percent across-the-board cut that would slash EPA's fiscal year 2006 budget by almost $80 million. But House and Senate negotiators rejected a White House plan to cut EPA's popular clean water infrastructure funding program by an additional $166 million this fiscal year. In addition, negotiators rejected a Senate Republican push to exempt...