The word from Capitol Hill watchers is that the House Appropriations Subcommittee is readying to mark-up the Dept. of Interior budget for next year by next week, likely June 10.
A plan is emerging to invest $35 million immediately into the USGS Cooperative Water Program to help make up for the shortfall in matches from state agencies. The Subcommittee, which is reportedly also concerned about stopping the degradation of the nation's stream gaging network now, is listening to the USGS advice to rebuild that network over a 3-5 year period, ramping up the program to $110M. It sounds like some of the funds they were considering putting into the stream gages could be diverted to the CWP without delaying an effective restoration of the gaging network.