A House Appropriations subcommittee approved its version of the Interior Department's fiscal year 2005 spending bill on Thursday.

The panel boosted funds for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to $2.3 billion, $81 million above the Bush administration's request. BIA operations would get $1.9 billion, $42 million above the request, while education would get $645 million, $4 million above the request.

Funds for the Indian Health Service were also increased to $3.0 billion, $112 million above Bush's request. This includes a boost for facilities construction, which had been slashed by the administration for 2005.

The increases for BIA, IHS and other areas were offset by cuts the Republican-led panel made to some of the Bush administration priorities. Overall, the Interior Department would get $9.8 billion, $213 million below the 2005 request.

The panel did not release a public version of its markup. A summary can be found at http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?
FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=380.

The summary states that the bill will provide $238 million for trust reform but does not specify how much would go to the Office of Special Trustee. Tribes have criticized the Bush administration for expanding the office, which was designed to oversee but not implement trust reform.

It was also unclear whether the markup contained any provisions affecting the Cobell trust fund lawsuit. The past two years, anti-Cobell provisions were added at the subcommittee level.

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White House Initiatives Are Rejected (The Washington Post 6/4)
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