Congressional Research Service

National Park Service: Fy2015 Appropriations and Recent Trends Congressional Research Service

Publisher Marketing: The National Park Service (NPS) receives appropriations in the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. For FY2015, the Obama Administration requested $2.615 billion in discretionary appropriations for NPS, an increase of $53.1 million (2.1%) over the enacted FY2014 amount of $2.562 billion. On July 23, 2014, the House Appropriations Committee reported H. R. 5171, which would appropriate $2.573 billion for NPS, an increase of $11.9 million (0.5%) over the FY2014 total, and $41.1 million less than the President's request (-1.6%). On August 1, 2014, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies released a draft bill and accompanying report, which would appropriate $2.633 billion for NPS-$71.2 million (2.8%) more than the FY2014 appropriation, $18.1 million (0.7%) more than the President's request, and $68.3 million (2.7%) more than the House committee. No regular appropriations acts for FY2015 were enacted prior to the end of FY2014. On September 19, 2014, President Obama signed into law P. L. 113-164, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015. The continuing resolution (CR) continues appropriations for the National Park Service at FY2014 enacted levels, minus a 0.0554% rescission, until December 11, 2014, or until FY2015 appropriations are enacted. The funding is subject to the authority and conditions of P. L. 113-76, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014. This report discusses NPS's FY2015 appropriations and also examines trends in the agency's discretionary appropriations over the past decade. NPS appropriations have risen and fallen during that time. Overall, the enacted discretionary appropriation for FY2014 shows an increase of 8.3% in nominal dollars, but a decrease of 7.4% in inflation-adjusted dollars, compared to a decade earlier (FY2005).