House Republicans target environmental rules via appropriation bill

New York Times : Even as the House, Senate, and White House wrangle over raising the US debt ceiling, Congressional appropriators are at work writing bills that fix spending for the next fiscal year, which begins on 1 October. As the New York Times‘s Leslie Kaufman reports, the House version of the bill that funds the Department of Interior, the Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency is proving contentious. The bill emerged from the Republican-led appropriations committee with 39 non-spending provisions, or riders, all of which loosen or curtail regulations aimed at protecting the environment and its natural inhabitants. Satisfying those regulations, the Republicans argue, hinders growth by imposing costs on companies.