A look at Obama's 2011 budget for govt agencies
By: The Associated Press

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency

Spending: $9.9 billion

Percentage change from 2010: 3.2 percent decrease

Mandatory Spending: None.

Highlights: Obama's budget would finance efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the gases blamed for global warming - a first - as the administration awaits congressional action on legislation.

The budget seeks $43 million in new funds for the EPA and states to control emissions of heat-trapping pollution from automobiles and refineries, power plants and factories. The administration also is looking for more money to roll out a new rule that would require polluters to annually report the amount of greenhouse gases they release.

Unlike last year, the budget does not bank on raising money to pay for a promised tax cut and clean energy technologies by auctioning off permits to companies that emit global warming gases. Congress has balked at that strategy. A House-passed bill gives the bulk of the permits away for free, as would a proposal being worked on in the Senate.

With a slight decrease in its request for hazardous-waste sites, the administration will likely continue to lag behind previous administrations in the pace of its cleanups.

The budget would continue to supply billions of dollars worth of grants to states and local governments to improve sewage treatment plants and drinking water systems, although the total is slightly less than last year. It adds another $1.3 billion - a 14 percent increase - to help cash-strapped states and tribes implement air and water programs.

-Dina Cappiello

Agency: Interior

Spending: $12.1 billion

Percentage change from 2010: 5.9 percent decrease

Mandatory Spending: $30 million

Highlights: Interior would invest more than $73 million - an increase of $14.2 million - to spur construction of windmills, solar panels and other green-energy projects. The budget calls for increased taxes and fees on oil and gas companies that harvest fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico and on other public property.

The plan would save $115 million this year, and $1.2 billion over 10 years, by eliminating payments to states and Indian tribes that have completed cleanup of abandoned coal mines. The administration said the payments were intended to encourage mine cleanup and were never meant to continue after the work was completed.

The budget would cut $30 million for a National Park Service program called Save America's Treasures. The administration said the historic preservation program lacks rigorous performance standards and its benefits are unclear.

The plan would add more than $35 million to help land and wildlife managers monitor and prepare for global warming's toll. And it would set aside $75 million for a reserve fund to address catastrophic wildfires, so agencies don't have to divert money budgeted for other purposes.

The budget would provide $445 million - an increase of $106 million - to purchase more land and forests and to establish programs that encourage young people to hunt, fish and get outdoors.

-Matthew Daly

Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Spending: $4.9 billion

Percentage change from 2010: 11 percent decrease

Mandatory Spending: None.

Highlights: The corps' 11 percent funding cut would hold spending at roughly the same levels seen during most of the 2000s - just under $5 billion. But the agency, which builds levees and dams around the country and keeps rivers and harbors open for commerce, has been a big recipient of stimulus funding and would get another shot of nearly $1 billion in 2011. That would push its real spending capacity to about $6 billion.

Obama proposed using most of the money on harbor and river projects such as waterway dredging, levee and dam upgrades to prevent flooding, and environmental initiatives such as restoring the Florida Everglades and other coastal wetlands.

Individual priorities are likely to change, however. The agency's budget is notoriously susceptible to parochial influence in Congress, where lawmakers jockey to steer funds to projects benefiting their home districts.

The administration also is calling for changing the way the agency plans and prioritizes its work so that it focuses on critical projects. Similar efforts have fallen flat on Capitol Hill as diverging interests fight over priorities.

In fiscal 2010, the agency was budgeted to spend $5.4 billion. But including stimulus spending the real budget was closer to $7.6 billion.

-Ben Evans

To see the rest of the agencies, click here.