WASHINGTON _ The House voted 240-179 on Friday to pass a fiscal 2019 Interior-Environment spending bill, the latest in a series of stand-alone appropriations measures the chamber has sent this week to a Senate that has no plans to hold a vote. Ten House Republicans crossed the aisle to support the Democratic-drafted bill.
Those Republicans mirrored the same ones who voted on Thursday for both an Agriculture funding bill and a Transportation-HUD measure: Rodney Davis of Illinois and Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, John Katko of New York, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Will Hurd of Texas, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Elise Stefanik of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan and Greg Walden of Oregon.
Another two Republicans, Reps. Peter T. King of New York and Steve Stivers of Ohio, voted just for the THUD bill on Thursday.
The Interior-Environment bill would provide $35.9 billion in discretionary spending subject to budget caps for FY 2019 _ $300 million more than FY 2018 and $6 billion more than requested.
It also rejects the administration's proposed 43 percent cut to the EPA and keeps funding at the FY 2018 level, while increasing funding for core, non-wildfire functions of the U.S. Forest Service as well as for the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.
