"Tempers Flare as Senate Panel OKs Interior-EPA Spending Bill"

"The Senate Appropriations Committee [Thursday] morning approved the $30 billion fiscal 2016 spending bill for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA on a 16-14 party-line vote, as Democratic frustration with spending cuts and multiple policy riders boiled over.

However, Republicans remained largely unified in rejecting amendments to strip contentious policy riders from the bill.

Both parties traded barbs over the measure from the outset of the markup, with Democrats slamming the $7.6 billion that the bill would hand EPA, a more than $538 million reduction from current levels. The Interior Department would see $11 billion and the Forest Service $5.12 billion under the bill, which was approved in subcommittee Tuesday."

Geof Koss reports for Greenwire June 18, 2015.