Early this morning Congress passed and the President signed into law a two-year budget deal. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018:
- Increases the discretionary spending caps for nondefense spending to $579 billion in FY2018 and $597 billion in FY2019, a total increase and for defense spending to $629 billion in FY2018 and $647 billion in FY2019, a total increase from current spending levels of $131 billion and $165 billion, respectively, over the two years. The increase in nondefense spending includes $20 billion towards energy, water, broadband, and transportation infrastructure projects.
- Includes $89.3 billion in additional disaster relief funding. The funding is primarily directed towards initiatives related to addressing the 2017 hurricanes (e.g. Harvey, Maria, Irma) and wildfires, and includes $13 million to the Department of Energy “for necessary expenses related to the consequences of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, including technical assistance related to electric grids.” The disaster relief funding also includes over $15 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers to construct flood and storm damage reduction and shoreline protection projects, and $23.5 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.
- Extends certain energy tax credits including credits related to residential energy property (e.g. residential solar electric, solar water heater, fuel cell, and small wind), biodiesel and biofuel production, Indian coal, renewable energy resources qualifying under Sections 45 and 48 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC);
- Modifies the credit for the production from advanced nuclear power facilities to authorize the reallocation and transfer of any unutilized national megawatt capacity; and
- Enhances the tax credit for entities using carbon capture and storage technology.