The Senate Appropriations Full Committee held a hearing this morning on the EPA-Interior Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) spending bill. The committee passed the bill unanimously 31-0.

The legislation includes a total of $35.8 billion, with $13.1 billion for the Department of the Interior – an increase of $2.5 billion over the President’s FY19 budget request – and a little over $8 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Both the Chairman Richard Shelby [R-AL] and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy [D-VT] thanked the committee for the bi-partisanship in crafting the bill. Senator Leahy pointed out that this was the first bi-partisan EPA-Interior bill to pass the committee since FY10. The bill will now need to be taken up on the Senate floor for a vote in the coming weeks.